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PROFESSOR JOHN CLARK ARCHER IN ARABIAN GARB 


A NEW APPROACH IN 
MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


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A Parish Project 






By JOHN CLARK ARCHER 


Author of: Mystical Elements in Mohammed; 
China in the Local Parish, etc. 


MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT 
OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 
NEW YORK 


PROEBSSOS JOHN CLARK ARCHER, 
B.D., Ph.D., is head of the Department 
of Missions in Yale University, and Li- 
brarian of the Day Missions Library. He 
has served in the Christian ministry at 
home, and as an educational missionary in 
India. During the World War he served 
with the Y.M.C.A. as director of educa- 
tional work among the British and Indian 
troops in Mesopotamia. He has traveled in 
all the major Asiatic mission fields. His 
work at Yale is mainly in Comparative Re- 
ligion, the History of Mohammedanism, 
and Missionary Education. 


COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY 
MISssIONARY EpUCATION MovEMENT 
OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 


Printed in the United States of America 


To 
THE REV. ROY MARTIN HOUGHTON, D.D. 
AND His PARISHIONERS OF 
THE CHURCH OF THE REDEEMER 
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT 





II. 


IIT. 


IV. 


CONTENTS 
Preface . 


THE SUBJECT 


The Question of “Missions’—A Definition — 
The Open Mind—Essential Religion—Religious 
Origins—Development of Religions—The Com- 
plex Character of Religion—The Fruits of Vari- 
ous Religions—Our Motive. 


ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM 


A Director—A Secretary—Organization Meet- 
ing—A Survey—Schedule—Reference Library 
—The Program. 


PROJECTS 


General Proicctla Masans Byoiecen hdver 
tion Project—Woman and Home Life Project— 
Marriage Project—Afternoon Visit Project— 
Games and Child Life Project. 


THE GRAND PROJECT . : 
Preparation in Generate Finances Committers 
—Dramatizations—Stories—The Public Reciter 
—Project Program and Schedule. 


ix 


13 


70 


88 


143 





ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING PAGE 
Portrait of Professor Archer Frontispiece 


Dr. Watson L. Phillips in the rdle of Mohammed . 96 


The Masjid al-jawwab CN ae DBT Nl Ret ard an 
Mohammed and his grandsons, Hasan and Hussein 106 
An Arab village school SER oC SN OA RU ha 8 
SAMAR Le TEPER CATE (ily yi okies ss Ltr a ponihevakee OUNLeeT LNRM GM NG i ee 
PORIRUA MATETIY SAU Cg Him ei ae gi Teer Ni UR UMT ARN a Na ea 


PERU ALAS E SE TOST AMI CMG e Sig) fal bia) gre Oe nae a eae 
Hunouse in vlosiem lands: oh) 9 se ok . 148 
Mere MEME A CAL GW Cpt, rN ation sk AN arc ealnguanen LC) 
MSU TERDO CCEA 08 a 8a, Tee Pea nihinrann pia git y diay 
memetaroiseritor WK erbala ot i. Vay ch woe eye 





PREFACE 


It is the author’s hope and desire that these words 
may serve as the reader’s introduction to this book. 
If so, this preface will offer the reader a statement of 
fact, an explanation, and an appeal. 


A statement of fact. The world is not Christian. 
Among a billion and a half people over the earth only 
five hundred and fifty millions are nominally Chris- 
tian, and much of the “Christianity” of the world is 
defective. Among the four hundred millions of 
Chinese only three millions are nominally of the total 
Christian community. 

Several strong faiths are in competition with Chris- 
tianity for the allegiance of men. Here and there these 
rival faiths are gaining in the contest. The Christian 
population of Japan is estimated as less today in pro- 
portion to the total population than it was in the early 
days of the Church in Japan. 

Not only are certain non-Christian gains being 
registered in various areas of the earth, but the mis- 
sionary enterprise as such has lost its momentum of late 
in some of its phases conte in some of its fields of 
operation. 


An explanation. This book raises again the ques- 
tion of “missions,”’ and suggests a new approach to the 
study of the non-Christian faiths and to the faiths 
themselves with which we deal in the furtherance of 
Christian missions. It cannot be demonstrated that 
the non-Christian religions are meeting the needs of 
men. Is it possible for Christianity to meet their 
needs? It is perfectly obvious in the light of impres- 

1x 


x PREFACE 


sive facts that more attention than ever must be given 
to this question. 


An appeal. The appeal is frankly in behalf of the 
book, that it may have a fair reading. The attempt is 
made here to combine a discussion of the philosophy 
of the situation with the practical demonstration of the 
issues involved. The reader is asked to consider first 
of all the underlying theory of missions in the light of 
the present situation. A serious chapter greets him, 
therefore, at the outset, in which the author seeks to 
show “what it’s all about.’”’ It is a long chapter, but 
is divided for the reader’s convenience into sections 
with headings to indicate the contents. Without this 
chapter the rest of the book would have little value for 
the accomplishment of its purpose. For that matter, 
the chapter itself would have little value without its 
companion materials. The book must stand or fall as 
a whole. 


The projects in this book deal mostly with aspects 
of Mohammedanism, although the principles set forth 
in the book are applicable to the interpretation of any 
faith or field. May we add a brief statement about 
Islam? 

We begin our study and work with a traditional 
prejudice against the Moslem and his faith. We 
should take pains to rid ourselves of this disadvantage. 
We still labor under the Crusader complex. The mind 
that was in Europe when the armies of the Cross were 
battling at the walls of Antioch, Acre, and Jerusalem, 
or defending themselves at Tours and Vienna against 
the bearers of the Crescent still lingers in us, the heirs 
of Europe. 


PREFACE xi 


We are to some extent victims also of the notion 
that the Turk is altogether unspeakable and that the 
Arab is merely a Near Eastern trader and hard-fisted 
in the bargain. It will surprise us to learn many good 
things about both men. Certainly the world, especially 
our Western world, would have been much the poorer 
in thought and life had the Arabs not been for cen- 
turies the custodians and distributors of culture. 

Then, too, we have the impression that Islam is 
adamant, unchanging, and defiant, and that we waste 
good time and effort in any attempt to dislodge a 
despicable host entrenched in a rocky, isolated fastness. 
We have taken all too little account of the true situa- 
tion. 

These are likely the three major elements in our 
traditional prejudice. Let us dismiss them, or at least 
open our minds to a reéxamination of them as we pro- 
ceed with our present study of things Islamic. 


This book is dedicated to the pastor and people of 
the Church of the Redeemer of New Haven, Con- 
necticut, at whose invitation the projects as presented 
in these pages were undertaken, and with whose co- 
operation they were carried through in the interest of 
their own local program of missionary education and 
for the sake of whatever value their work might have 
for the Christian Church at large. 

That the book finds its way to the larger parish is 
due to the generous and appreciative interest of the 
Missionary Education Movement. 

Joun CLARK ARCHER 
New Haven, Connecticut 
August, 1926 





A NEW APPROACH IN 
MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


I 
THE SUBJECT 


HIS book deals with the subject of mission- 
ary education in the local church and parish. 
The term “missionary education” means in this 
connection the education of the local parish in matters 
relative and vital to the Church Universal. We pro- 
ceed on the assumption that distinct obligation rests 
upon each local church to share in the spread of the 
gospel of Christ throughout the earth, and that each 
group of Christians “at home” may not properly look 
upon a smaller parish than the whole world. It is not, 
however, merely a matter of obligation to the world 
parish; in these pages great emphasis is laid upon the 
remarkable results in education and outlook which 
come to the local church from its missionary educa- 
tional work. 

For convenience we are adopting in this book a 
procedure which sets the Church in “foreign” lands 
over against the Church “at home,” although the 
method of the book is applicable to any form of “mis- 
sions,’ home or foreign, to use passing terms. We 
accept and hold to the idea that definite further re- 
sponsibility rests upon the home constituency of Chris- 
tians to support and prosecute the foreign missionary 
enterprise, and that they should be appropriately edu- 
cated for the task. In this we do not deny that 
Christian work both at home and abroad is essentially 
a common enterprise. Whatever border-line there is, 

13 


14 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


lies rather between Christian and non-Christian than 
between West and East, or home and foreign. But we 
do maintain that certain lands and peoples are foreign 
to us and not easily understood, and so we aim to 
bring these lands and peoples as much as possible into 
the home consciousness. Nor do we deny that light 
will break out of the East and must be taken account 
of. Indeed, it seems to us that further Western mis- 
sionary effort in the Orient is warranted only if it be 
in the spirit and with the methods of cooperation be- 
tween West and East, especially between the Western 
Church and the Eastern. 


THE QUEsTION oF “MuissIoNns” 


It becomes evident after one gets something of the 
true perspective that the whole question of “‘missions” 
must be raised. And what a complex and comprehen- 
sive question it is, involving as it does things historical, 
psychological, theological, and much more besides. 
This book attempts to indicate the variety and extent 
of the situation. It deals, therefore, with the theo- 
retical as well as with the practical. It is futile to 
discuss missionary methods without considering most 
seriously the very problem of the missionary enterprise 
in itself. 

What is it, after all, that we should try to do under 
the present circumstances, and why should we try to 
do it? Itis proper to ask what and why, either before 
or in connection with how. And so the reader is asked 
to give serious attention to all phases of the problem 
as the book sets before him (1) the theory of mis- 
sionary education—the philosophy of it, so to speak; 


THE SUBJECT 15 


(2) the organization of a parish-wide program; (3) 
materials and methods of missionary education. 

Among the materials unusual space is given to things 
Islamic, in consideration of the fact that because of 
the importance of the subject in the world’s life today 
many churches are studying Islam, and for the further 
reason that the author has just finished the presenta- 
tion of a Moslem Project in New Haven. These ma- 
terials, therefore, serve not only for illustration of the 
general principles discussed in this book, but also for 
special use in churches studying Islam. 


A DEFINITION 


The general problem which concerns us might be 
stated at the outset as: Our (Christian) interpretation 
of the essential character—that is, the origins, de- 
velopment, complexity, and fruits—of the non-Chris- 
tian religions, for the sake of understanding, apprecia- 
tion, cooperation, and Christianization—of ourselves 
as well as others. 

Too much is involved in the problem to be compressed 
adequately into thirty-four words. We must address 
ourselves to a discussion of the main points of the 
statement, after we have weighed it with care. 


THe Oren Minp 


Notice first of all the parenthetical word “Christian.” 
It is thus separated as a precaution and a warning 
against prejudice, or, to put it positively, as a sugges- 
tion of the desirability of open-mindedness. Interpre- 
tation is the important consideration, and we cannot 


16 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


interpret truly if we are handicapped by prejudice. 
Whatever the cause and the origin, we have developed, 
as a matter of plain fact, an unwarranted amount of 
prejudice in the direction of the non-Christian peoples 
and their religions. Pride of religion is a quality com- 
mon to all peoples, whether Jew, Moslem, Hindu, or 
Christian, and with it has come a closing of the mind, 
to a greater or lesser degree, against alien faiths. 
This has been and still is unfortunate, for it breeds 
misunderstandings, forestalls appreciation, blocks co- 
operation, and works harm to the very faith itself 
whose adherents are close-minded. We Christians 
have been by no means free from provincialism. We 
have lived in our own Western world, peculiarly re- 
mote from the East, whether with respect to geography, 
history, language, literature, or religion. We measure 
in miles our distance from Bombay and Tokyo, but 
how may we measure the interval between ours and 
the Hindu or the Japanese mind? If our geographical 
sense is weak, then what of our appreciation of foreign 
manners and customs? We have indifferently or de- 
liberately shut off most of the world from us, and 
have thus deprived ourselves of untold resources of 
culture. 

For one thing, we scarcely realize how large the 
world is. As children at school we find in our geogra- 
phies the map of New England occupying the whole of 
one page and that of the vast continent of Asia or 
Africa occupying the same amount of space. In spite 
of efforts made nowadays to the contrary, we still form 
disproportionate views of the major portions of the 
earth’s surface. The observation, “how small the 
world is,” often means that the rest of the world is 


THE SUBJECT 17 


attached to our world somewhat as small barnacles 
to a huge vessel. 

We certainly do not realize how varied the world is. 
Our geographical mind is matched in other realms of 
mind. We are accustomed to “lump” foreign peoples 
and things and to feel that we have justly characterized 
them with some hasty phrase. They are so distant that 
they look small and uniform. We cannot see the con- 
trasts of lofty mountain and low plain, of sand-strewn 
desert and green-clad river-bank, of poverty and 
wealth, of education and ignorance, of high spiritual 
attainment and debased living. When reference is 
made in sermon or address to things foreign, it is 
usually by means of a general phrase. We have be- 
come accustomed to such expressions as “the idolatry 
of the Hindu,” “the fetishism of the African,” “the 
gross immorality of Shintoism,” “the millions without 
hope and without God in the world,” and “the total 
inadequacy of the non-Christian religions.”’ What we 
should be convinced of is the total inadequacy of a 
phrase. Can one balance with five words the weight 
of twenty centuries? How little we really know of 
our own Christian faith after years of study and ex- 
perience! 

Many vast areas of Church history, of the history 
of Christian doctrine, of Christian art, and of Chris- 
tian ethics remain as yet practically unknown soil to 
even the better-trained Christian. The very field of 
sacred Scripture itself is comparatively little known to 
the man in the pew, although he has had the benefit 
of years of Biblical exposition. Our college men dis- 
play at times a lamentable ignorance of our Bible, al- 
though they may have spent their allotted time in 


18 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


church schools. If, then, we little understand what is 
always with us, how great must be our ignorance and 
misunderstanding of what is remote! 

Nor is the remote unimportant, and to be ignored 
on that account. To come to know it is to realize its 
extreme importance. But we may never come to 
realize its value if we keep our minds closed against it. 


Of course we are, as a matter of fact—by birth, tra- 
dition, and choice—Christian in our approach to the 
problem before us. This we may say is unavoidable, 
but it should be, nevertheless, an advantage and not a 
handicap. That is, our being Christian should signify 
a real religious experience in Christ which should en- 
able and compel us to evaluate in appropriate terms the 
religious experience of other peoples whom we study 
and whose records we examine. Our being Christian 
should not mean that we are sectarian and narrow- 
minded in our approach to other faiths, with a type of 
Christianity that is more formal than spiritual, and 
therefore barred against the breaking of further light. 
On the one hand, “holding no form of creed, but con- 
templating all’—as Tennyson says of the soul in the 
“Palace of Art’—is entirely too abstract and objective 
to get valuable results from the task we are here assay- 
ing. It is indispensable to hold some form of faith. 
We cannot commend a free-thinking, purely critical 
attitude. “All things to all men” means nothing of the 
sort. One must have within the realm of religion con- 
victions born of religious experience, in order to evalu- 
ate the things of religion anywhere. But narrow- 
mindedness may be nearly as great an evil and as heavy 
a handicap as no particular religious allegiance at all. 


THE SUBJECT 19 


In any case, neither extreme is commendable. We 
must be Christian with an open mind. 


It is interesting and significant that Buddha specified 
open-mindedness as the first necessary step in his 
Eight-fold Path of Release, and that he incorporated 
_ into the body of his own teaching certain elements of 
the older order, which he revised and adapted to his 
own ends. It is obvious that no one could accept a 
new faith without having.an open mind! What we 
Christians desire as we do missionary work throughout 
the world is open-mindedness on the part of our 
hearers; otherwise they cannot accept the new teaching. 
Buddha desired the same. He urged Hindus to have 
open minds with respect to their sacred scriptures, the 
Vedas, and with respect to him and his new message. 
This state is a common prerequisite at a certain stage. 
Is it not also commendable at any stage? Buddha 
would have had no ground in justice to say to his 
hearers, “Open your minds, receive the new teaching, 
then close your minds forever.” 


The attitude of the apostle Paul is worthy of notice 
in this connection. He was willing to see God in the 
experience of other men. He declared that God had 
not left himself without witness, even among the. na- 
tions that walked in their own ways, and that God is in 
reality not far from any nation or individual. He 
quotes with assent the words of the Greek poets who 
said, “For we are also his offspring.” In God do all 
men live, and move, and have their being, Paul thought. 

All this was, of course, after Paul’s conversion. He 
suggested to the Thessalonians that they “prove all 


20 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


things, and hold fast that which is good.” He warned 
them against the quenching of the Spirit. At Athens 
he ventured to interpret the “Unknown God” of the 
“very religious’? Athenians in terms of the God of his 
own Christian experience. 

Paul was himself a Jew; he lived and died a Jew; 
but he became a new man in Christ. Christianity was 
to him a new doctrine and a new life, meant for all 
men, “whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free.” 
He was able to distinguish Christianity from the Jew- 
ish elements in its origin, and from the Jewish forms 
in which it had been first presented. His conversion 
was a genuinely new religious experience. When, 
however, he went out as a leader among the early 
Christians who faced a world in which they were 
greatly outnumbered, he saw the necessity and the pro- 
priety of preaching Christ in a language which that 
world could understand and assimilate. 

The world of Paul was full of diversity, and he 
realized this fact. We have reason to think that the 
apostle took his reckoning from the entire situation. 
There was Greek culture and Roman government, 
Eastern mysticism and Western materialism. Beyond 
it all Paul saw the unity of the world in Christ. To 
bring about this consummation he entered upon the 
mission of preaching Christ as the divine wisdom of 
God, preexistent and personal and loving, and a power 
sufficient for the salvation of all men. His thought 
of Christ portrays Christ as the fulfiller of the aspira- 
tions and needs of all men. He preached, however, not 
merely in the interest of a synthesis of all good quali- 
ties into a faith to bind the world into one, but also 
for the sake of conversion in Christ. He himself had 


THE SUBJECT 21 


found God in Christ.. Through Christ would God 
reconcile the world unto himself. To Paul, Christ is 
the wisdom and the love of God, and Christianity is 
Christ, not a Church or a creed. But with all his con- 
fidence in Christ, he had due regard for the process by 
which men should give Christ their allegiance and be 
saved through Him. We can feel that the idea is 
characteristically Pauline, that the good in other faiths 
may be generously and properly recognized, that the 
sons of all lands and the heirs of all ages will live out 
their lives in their own peculiar ways, but that men will 
not be made fully alive apart from Christ. 


Did not the Master himself come to fulfill, not to 
destroy, to save the world and not to judge it? Such 
was his own declaration of purpose. He guaranteed 
to men that their doing of the truth would lead them 
to light and freedom in God, who is light and life and 
love. He emphasized the matter of fruitage as a test 
of life, and gave us ground for assuming that whatever 
is not against Him is for Him. The early churchmen 
had no right to close the canon, so to speak, and to 
maintain the doctrine of salvation through the Church 
alone. Nor had anyone the right to hold subscription 
to a creed the sole means to life. The Church as such, 
or else a body of doctrines, has too often been set over 
against the non-Christian world, and a line been drawn 
between the two which put the true faith on the one 
side and false faiths on the other. This state of the 
closed mind has come in for earnest examination, and 
nothing is surer than that there are fundamental agree- 
ments among all men with respect to God and the 
necessary relation which men sustain to Him. There 


22 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


is religious kinship which in the Christian view may be 
developed more fully, even to the point where men may 
realize their kinship in Christ. There is place within 
the Kingdom of Christ for many of those values which 
non-Christian men have discovered in their search after 
God. Of this Jesus himself assures us. 


From what wealth does prejudice disinherit us! 
We can be, if we will, both Christian and open-minded 
at one and the same time. In our interpretation of 
aspects of religion throughout our world we can in all 
humility and yet with all confidence follow the ex- 
ample of Jesus and of Paul. Our task is the saving of 
the world, not the judging of it. We have a richer 
experience to offer in fulfilment of the more meager 
religious experience of the non-Christian peoples, but 
we shall never gain their acceptance of it while we 
spurn their goods. To spurn their goods is neither 
sound pedagogy nor sound religion. 

But what a change of mind must overtake us ere we 
win the world to Christ! We have been so much in 
the mood of condemnation. Think for a while of the 
matter of worship. Nothing has prejudiced us against 
a strange religion so much as this. A Moslem friend 
recently said that the first time he visited a Christian 
church in America he thought the worship quite mean- 
ingless. He did not see the spiritual elements therein. 
Usually, also, the Christian fails to see most of the 
spiritual elements hidden in Moslem worship. Novelty 
and contrast blind the sight. It is part of the task of 
missionary education as conceived in this book to in- 
terpret the worship of strange faiths, to free the mind 
of whatever condemnation is unjustifiable. One of the 


THE SUBJECT 23 


projects suggested later in these pages is a mosque 
scene, proposed as one means of finding the true values 
in Islam. 

It is difficult to understand strange ritual and sym- 
bols. Early Christians were once considered cannibals, 
for they were said to “eat their god.’ The observers 
failed to see the significance of the Christian commun- 
ion rite. We are all so accustomed to look upon the 
outside, forgetful of the fact that there is an inside as 
well. The author visited again a Roman Catholic 
chapel during the Easter Mission. The crude image of 
Mary on one side of the choir and the cruder image of 
Jesus on the other side, along with other crass symbols, 
repelled him, but in spite of it all he was able to detect 
something further of the devotion of the worshipers 
under the influence of an impelling ideal. There was 
real worship. And so it is with the worship in 
Buddhism, Hinduism, and other forms. Outwardly 
there are aspects which surprise and shock us. In 
Hinduism, Ganesha, for example, in the form of an 
elephant and besmeared with red, is to many of us 
truly hideous. But even here it is possible to get a 
truer view through an understanding of the symbolism 
of the god. We have vigorously condemned idolatry 
and forgotten to allow credit for the fine quality of 
devotion. One thing we should have done; but the 
other should not have been left undone. We must 
penetrate to the inner significance of ritual and of 
symbol. 

Another reason for our prejudice is a certain type 
of literature. Several years ago a missionary educa- 
tional booklet of a certain large American denomina- 
tion contained this paragraph: 


24 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Hinduism. The religion of the greater part of India. 
This religion teaches that man has no real soul; it teaches 
of no savior, no salvation. It believes in the murder of girl 
babies and in child marriage. . . . The most terrible crimes 
are committed in the name of religion. The leaders, or 
priests of this religion, called Brahmins, are wicked, selfish, 
dangerous men. | 


In this paragraph every declaration but the first is 
open to serious question. Hinduism dwells much upon 
a doctrine of the soul, and has worked out a unique 
and elaborate theory of karma (retribution) and 
transmigration of soul. There are, in fact, in Hindu- 
ism three highly developed ways of salvation: by 
works, by knowledge, and by devotion. In the third 
instance salvation is attained through the grace of a 
saving god. One may not contradict so flatly the re- 
mainder of the paragraph, for there is some truth in 
each declaration. Child marriage is indeed notoriously 
common. Some backward peoples put away girl 
babies by violent means. The Thugs in former days 
committed their crimes in the name of the goddess 
Kali. Many Brahmin priests are doubtless unscrupu- 
lous men. But there are brighter aspects of Hinduism. 
It is not fair to present the worst in other faiths as if 
it were the total situation. 

The paragraph quoted serves rather to show the 
ignorance on the part of the writer of it, than to de- 
scribe Hinduism adequately. The words represent a 
set state of mind, the result of traditional training in 
ignorance. Of somewhat the same import is a para- 
graph from a book which gives “an account of some 
Indian children” : 


THE SUBJECT 25 


A true Christian, as you well know, is one who would 
scorn to tell lies, or steal, or cheat, or act in any dishonor- 
able way. But this.,is not so in India; and a man who is 
considered as most religious, and is even called “holy,” may 
steal, lie, cheat, besides being horribly dirty and wearing 
his hair filthy and matted. 


This statement cannot be creditable to the Christian 
while being unfair to the Indian. The best of one 
faith must not be compared with the worst of another. 
We all recognize the “holy” man referred to above as 
the unworthy sadhu. There is in India a better class 
of ascetics, or sadhus, who are more typical of better 
Hinduism, who are examples of pure living and high 
purpose, and are earnest seekers after truth. If they 
are to be condemned, it is on grounds other than the 
matting of their hair. We can recall grave discussions 
among Christian monks as to the proper manner of 
their own wearing of the hair. Even of the unworthy 
sadhu it must be remembered that men bow in rever- 
ence before his wretched figure, looking beyond him 
to the Power to which they commit themselves. 

It is true that such statements as have just been 
quoted are no longer prominent in missionary educa- 
tional books which are now appearing. But these 
older books axe still on the shelves of church and com- 
munity libraries, where they are often consulted in 
matters of missions. It is to them that we can often 
trace many of the false notions which linger to em- 
barrass an enlightened missionary educational pro- 
gram. The minds of the rank and file in our parishes 
have been nourished on such notions and have closed 
like a sensitive plant in the process. 


26 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Now an inescapable duty rests upon us to see things 
in their beauty and to see them in their truth. This is 
by no means to ignore the unlovely and the false. The 
false and the unlovely must be done away. The good, 
the true, and the beautiful will abide. We must rid 
our minds of all unfortunate and hampering predis- 
position, and open them to the witness of God through- 
out the earth. We should be as impartial as the rain 
and the sunshine, rightly weighing the things of others 
and the things of ourselves. Our own faith must stand 
before others on its intrinsic merits. 

Can we in any real way experience the faiths of 
others and thus come to appreciate the heritage which 
the centuries of seeking have accumulated for them? 
We cannot be Buddhists, and Hindus, and Moslems, 
in turn,—that is not possible, necessary, or desirable, 
—but we can look for the good in these faiths and 
try to portray this good to all other Christians in order 
to develop a proper sense of perspective in the Chris- 
tian leadership of the world toward the one God and 
Father of all mankind. We must discover, if possible, 
what real Buddhism is, what real Hinduism is, and 
what is real Islam. We must discover “pure religion 
and undefiled.” 


EssENTIAL RELIGION 


If the reader will now turn back to the original state- 
ment of our problem (page 15), he will see that the sec- 
ond phase of our discussion has to do with “the essen- 
tial character of the non-Christian religions.” What 
is the essential character of a religion? Professor 
D. C. Macintosh of Yale has defined “essence” as that 


THE SUBJECT 27 


which is in the actual as well as being demanded by the 
ideal. An ancient Indian seer gave utterance to this 
prayer: | 


From the unreal lead me to the real. 
From darkness lead me to light. 
From death lead me to immortality. 


All peoples have sought in one way or another to 
learn discrimination between the real and the unreal, 
have sought to find a way out of the unreal into the 
real. Various religions have suggested various ways 
out. How adequate and satisfactory have those ways 
been? This is part of our present inquiry. Our 
emphasis here is upon the essential character of the 
various religions which offer ways out from the un- 
real to the real. Do they lead to the real? Have they 
the power in themselves to lead? Is there, for ex- 
ample, in actual Hinduism what is demanded by ideal 
Hinduism, and can it justly lay claim by virtue of its 
essential character to being a saving faith for all 
mankind? Is there bread of life in Hinduism, and do 
the waters of life flow so freely that the time will 
come when the adherent of Hinduism will neither 
hunger nor thirst any more? What is the power of 
Hinduism that it claims over two hundred millions of 
devotees ? | 

Since our aim in this book is not so speculative as 
practical, there is no space here for a far-reaching dis- 
cussion of the essence of religion in the abstract. We 
must examine particular religions in detail. Profes- 
sor G. F. Moore says in his History of Religions, 
“Without any attempt to extract what nowadays is 


28 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


called ‘the essence of religion,’ Jesus kept closely to 
what is essential in religion.”” Dr. Moore goes on to 
say that the emphasis of Jesus’ teaching was upon 
piety, morality, and charity—“a simple and natural 
piety, a pure and upright life, unselfish goodness to all 
men, taking its example and inspiration from the good- 
ness of the Father in Heaven, who bestows blessings 
on the evil as well as the good.” This is the religion 
of Jesus. This is the character God desires to see in 
men. ‘This is essential Christianity. Are these quali- 
ties found in Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and other 
non-Christian faiths? If so, are they found in such 
abundance as in the Christian faith? 

Jesus “did not come to annul the Law and the 
Prophets, but to confirm them,’’ as Moore observes. 
He accepted the righteousness of the Scribes and the 
Pharisees as a contribution to the development of re- 
ligion, but imposed upon men greater requirements of 
righteousness for the sake of entry into the Kingdom 
of Heaven. The Sermon on the Mount is full of re- 
gard for the old order, the old commandments, and the 
old spirit, but is likewise emphatic in the matter of 
greater requirements. Jesus himself, living the per- 
fect life, pointed all men to the ideal of perfection. 
To that end he said more than had been said “of old 
time.” 

We attempt, then, to follow the example of Jesus 
and to adopt the attitude of Jesus in discussing what 
is essential in religion. We start, however, with a 
larger field than the one in which Jesus found himself. 
The world of his time was mainly the regions of the 
eastern Mediterranean. In our world are China and 
Japan, India, and all the lands. We have to do with 


THE SUBJECT 29 


faiths beyond the horizon of the early Christian view, 
with Shintoism, Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism, 
Hinduism, and Islam, not to mention the religions of 
primitives in Africa, and elsewhere. We live indeed 
in a “very religious’ world. With this world we start 
in our inquiry into “the essential character” of the 
non-Christian religions. 


It is not the unreality of the non-Christian religions, 
their falseness, if you please, which proves the diffi- 
culty in the way of Christian missions. Rather, it is 
their reality, their truth, their goodness,—that is, so 
much of reality, truth, and goodness as they con- 
tain,—which has raised barriers against the spread of 
the Christian gospel throughout the earth. On the 
other hand, these qualities should actually have aided 
the gospel instead of impeding it. One suspects that 
had the method of Jesus been used, they would have 
aided. Have we not misunderstood the situation? 
Looking upon the outside, we have wondered how these 
“false” faiths could possibly stand. And yet they 
have stood and still stand. The Hindu has been very 
hard to move. He may retreat before us, or he may 
appear to give assent to much we Say, and yet he has 
not been won to Christ. The Moslem has seemed espe- 
cially tenacious of his faith, and has not only stood his 
ground, but boldly and successfully advanced his cause. 

Buddhism has so penetrated into China that we may 
say that on the religious side that great land is essen- 
tially Buddhist. Christianity is in competition there 
with modern Buddhism rather than with indigenous 
Chinese religion. Buddhism has its tens of millions of 
adherents in China. It offered the Chinese something 


30 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


in fulfilment of their needs. It gave them religious 
comfort and assurance beyond anything formerly 
known to them. What is Christianity to do about it? 
This is a practical question. Have we Christians 
underestimated the facts? Have we passed all too 
lightly and in unsubstantial hope over vast fields of 
human thought and life? We have; and it is time for 
us to size up the task in its appropriate proportions. 
We need perspective. Is there not, indeed, something 
essential in every great faith? 

Consider China at some length, in our search for the 
answer to this question. The Chinese are by no means, 
as many suppose, a non-religious people. To the rang- 
ing eye, neglected idols and decaying temples tell of 
weak and decadent faith, but the close observer who 
knows the Chinese well is aware that religion has a 
strong hold upon them. Strictly speaking, there is no 
Chinese word for “religion,” the Chinese are not at all 
intense in religious belief and practise, and on the whole 
they have a low form of religion considering the high 
character of their civilization. However, one must not 
be deceived by outward appearance into thinking that 
China merely has the setting for religion without the 
thing itself. The tide of faith has had its ebb and 
flow, as in other lands, also, but the old Chinese forms 
of religion have still the power of spiritual renewal. 

There are some four hundred millions of Chinese. 
Among these numerous hosts various faiths exist side 
by side and live in comparative peace with one another 
—a tolerance due mainly, however, to the fact that 
no one faith is comprehensive. The Chinese have been 
very tolerant as a rule. The average Chinese, not a 
little to our surprise, is at once an animist, a Confu- 


THE SUBJECT 31 


cianist, a Taoist, and a Buddhist, without any sense of 
inconsistency. It is only the Moslem Chinese or the 
Christian Chinese who is a man of one faith. Is there 
in Christianity that which demands exclusiveness? 
Could a Chinese be a Christian and yet offer sacrifices 
as Confucianists do to the spirits of their ancestors? 
The Christian Church also has had its “prayers for 
the dead.”’ Is ancestor-commemoration, as the progres- 
sive Chinese calls it, incompatible with real Chris- 
tianity? Have we missed something in Confucianism 
which is after all of the very essence of religion? 
There is no doubt that there is something permanent 
in Confucianism with which we must reckon. There 
is an essential core which cannot be disregarded. There 
is one great fact with which we must deal at once, and 
that is that all Chinese revere Confucius. In every 
city of even slightest importance there is a temple to 
the great Sage, with its wooden tablet to his memory 
as the chief object of veneration. Might a Chinese 
Christian properly worship there? Does the conver- 
sion of a Chinese to Christianity mean his abandon- 
ment of regard for Confucius? The problem is acute 
today. The answer depends upon an understanding of 
what is involved in the veneration of the Sage in one 
of his temples. The question might be put in this 
way, Can China ever be rightly expected to surrender 
her regard for Confucius, the greatest name in all the 
Far East? There is a great field here for study on the 
part of the local parish. It is an area which as yet is 
almost terra incognita to us. We may indeed have 
some correct impression of the bulk of China, and of 
the number of her teeming millions, but it is doubtful 
if we know much of the Chinese state of mind and of 


32 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


the elements of which it is made. This book ventures 
to suggest the project method as a means to that de- 
sirable end.* By such means we may see, and do, and 
know something of ‘“‘ancestor-worship,’ for example, 
and thus examine further into the real meaning of it. 

It is not surprising, after all, that there are survival 
values in Confucius and his teachings. May we indi- 
cate some of the grounds for our assertion; for 
example, Confucius himself. As a boy, Confucius 
liked to play at the worship of ancestral and other 
spirits by prayer and sacrifice. Later on he realized 
that he came into the world for the very purpose of 
perpetuating the family name of Kung, and to carry on 
the worship of the family spirits. This is one inter- 
esting phase of his life. There are others. Confucius 
was fond of horses and dogs. Once on the death of 
a dog of his he prepared a grave and wrapped the 
animal’s body in some old silk to keep the earth from 
touching it—this out of sheer regard for the dog and 
not from such a notion as the Parsis have, that dead 
bodies pollute the earth. He was fond of archery and 
other forms of sport. He considered archery as we 
might today consider football, a good test of character. 
He was a good sportsman. He declined to shoot at 
birds at rest. In fishing he used a line and never a net. 
He gave also much attention to music, and was “moved 
by concord of sweet sounds.” He declared that music 
made men large-hearted and generous, and he might 
even have had some notion of the therapeutic value of 
music. He was a good teacher, and one well liked. 
He had many pupils, and they were much devoted to 
him. He never refused instruction to anyone, even 

1 See more particularly the author’s China in the Local Parish. 


THE SUBJECT 33 


though the fee might be only a bundle of dried fish. 
He allowed all pupils to remain who were eager to get 
knowledge and to develop their mental powers. He, 
however, required much of his pupils. They had to 
do their own thinking. He insisted, for example, upon 
their finding the other three sides of the square when 
he gave them the one side to work upon. He offered 
instruction in a wide range of subjects—history, social 
propriety, literature, science, music, and government. 
As a man, he does indeed seem cold, lacking in imagi- 
nation, and without sympathy; but in any case there is 
his strict morality to commend him. He was “mild 
and yet dignified; majestic and yet not fierce; respect- 
ful and yet easy,” says the Analects. 

At the age of fifty-one, being challenged to put his 
teaching into practise, he accepted public office, first 
in the department of public works and then in the de- 
partment of justice. Remarkable things are said of 
his administration of affairs; almost unbelievable 
things, in fact. For example, it is said that “a thing 
dropped on the road was not picked up” by any but 
the rightful owner, and that doors were never locked. 
Certainly he was so successful in his own state that 
princes in adjoining states flattered him by imitation, 
and then became jealous of him. It was their jealousy 
that ruined him, but even after jealousy and intrigue 
had robbed him of his public post and had sent him out 
into exile, he kept his confidence in high Heaven and 
in the efficacy of the measures which he proposed for 
good government. His life went out in great dis- 
couragement. He died murmuring, “No intelligent 
monarch arises; there is not one in the empire that will 
make me his master. My time is come to die.” His 


34 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


name, his character, and his teaching, however, have 
remained the chief heritage of his country and the 
final source to which the Chinese continue to make 
appeal. 

History, of course, and the very life of China bear 
_ testimony to the incompleteness of the character and 
teachings of Confucius. He “looked to antiquity” for 
_ his authority. He was an investigator and a compiler, 
a “transmitter,’’ as he called himself, and not a crea- 
tive author. There was nothing in him of the mind 
_of St. Paul as seen in the third chapter of Philippians. 
His policy and attitude were detrimental to progress. 
_ How, for example, can China be Confucian today in 
the matter of the status of woman? The seal of in- 
_ feriority was put upon her by the Sage. How can the 
Chinese appeal to Confucius in certain major matters 
of religion? Although he recognized the supernatural, 
he gave no great amount of thought to that aspect of 
life, nor did he leave any satisfactory teaching with 
regard to it. With all that is admirable and imitable 
in his excellent system of ethics, he could point to no 
compelling motive for good life and conduct beyond 
the sphere of the human. Nor did he point to himself 
as the moral motive. Rather, he declared he had not 
attained the ideal. His ideal was the Superior Man, 
whose parts were mostly of the past, but a creature 
and an ideal without reality in fact. He himself con- 
fessed shortcomings, including fondness for wine. He 
said conclusively that “the character of the superior 
man, carrying out in his conduct what he professes, is 
what I have not yet attained to.”’ Confucianists have, 
therefore, been compelled throughout the centuries to 
create from scanty materials an ideal Confucius for 


THE SUBJECT 35 


purposes of religious veneration, a testimony to the 
inadequacy of the religious basis even for its own 
morality. 

Meanwhile, the gospel of the Buddha came in from 
a distant land to give men hope and guidance with 
respect to life beyond, and millions of Chinese have 
turned for comfort to that alien faith. Is it not an 
intriguing problem, this quest of a great people after 
things of the spirit? How dare we judge the matter 
with so few details at our command? Is not the need 
of missionary education growing more and more ap- 
parent as we realize the vastness of the missionary 
task? We are dealing with great realities. What we 
have just observed with respect to Confucius and Con- 
fucianism could be paralleled from other large areas 
of human life as well. 

And now we ask, as we follow the lead of our thirty- 
four-word definition (page 15), What is further in- 
volved in “the essential character’’ of the non-Christian 
religions? We have already seen something of the 
general range of the answer as we have discussed some 
of the permanent elements in the Chinese order. 
“Origins, development, complexity, and fruits” are all 
involved. 


RELIGIOUS ORIGINS 


What of the soil, and what of the seed, and how are 
the two related? Every great religion has arisen out 
of a peculiar situation. Before the days of Mo- 
hammed, for example, there were in Arabia “seekers” 
for the one God, and a growing movement with that 
aim; an unorganized movement, to be sure, but yet 


36 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


most significant. Mohammed thought of himself as 
one of these seekers before larger thoughts filled his 
mind. There was this considerable reaction against 
polytheism, and a desire for some higher type of faith, 
although the Arabs as a whole took very little interest 
in religion, and their moral sense was undeveloped. 
The opportunity, therefore, for Mohammed was at 
least twofold. He could take advantage of a quest 
which was under way, and also be a prophet to his 
people. A number of Arab tribes had been partly 
Christianized. There were also many Jews in Arabia. 

All these various religious forces lent fertility to the 
Arabian soil. But if we know Mohammed weli, we 
know that the great factor in the new faith was the 
man himself. Islam is first and foremost a person, 
the person Mohammed. Mohammed’s personal ex- 
perience of God is the foundation of the faith. There 
was opportunity in Arabia for a prophet, and the 
Prophet appeared. ‘Thus a new religion was born, 
whose adherents today number some two hundred and 
forty millions. This great host and the faith it holds 
cannot be accounted for apart from the founder and 
the humble origins in the early days of the order. 
Saul was anxious to know whose son David was, 
thinking that the son is related to the father in more 
than merely physical generation. As Mohammed was 
a son of his times, so also is Islam a product of 
Mohammed’s person. Antecedents are woven into the 
very texture of this and any movement. Origins are 
part of essential character. 

For further illustration look at Buddhism, at least 
at Buddha himself and Buddhist beginnings. How 
much, indeed, is wrapped up in his life and his ex- 


THE SUBJECT 37 


perience. He did not set out to found a new religion; 
he set out to save himself from a world infected with 
misery, disease, decay, and death. But the times were 
such and his experience was such that a new faith was 
inevitably born. Brahmanism reigned supreme in 
India in Buddha’s day, in the fifth century, p.c. Like 
a pillar of cloud it rose in the central part of 
Hindustan, overshadowing and overawing the whole 
social body, spreading by gradual processes in all di- 
rections. The priest was in control, and men were 
separated into divinely (i.e., priestly) ordained castes. 
Salvation, for the most part, was a way of works, 
although philosophy had interposed a way of knowl- 
edge as a saving thoroughfare. Men might rise in this 
way of works through processes of karma and rebirth 
from round to round of existence until they gained the 
very realm and state of God. Or, rather, they could 
by good works—and sound knowledge, said some— 
free themselves from the entanglement of karma and 
rebirth, and gain salvation. The way the masses took 
was, of course, the way of works. It required many 
sacrifices. Therein lay “atonement for everything, 
the remedy for everything.” And since it was the 
Brahmin priest who knew the ritual of sacrifice, he 
rose to a place level with the gods themselves, and a 
man’s salvation depended mostly upon the payment of 
the priestly fees. On the other hand, for the more 
intellectual Indian, knowledge, as we have intimated, 
was the way of salvation. 

One cannot speak, however, of much that was sys- 
tematic in the philosophy of religion of Buddha’s time, 
but, to speak in terms of the prevalent higher thought, 
and of the undefined consciousness of common prac- 


38 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


tise, there was one Supreme Being, absolute, infinite, 
eternal, omnipresent, impersonal, unknowable, inde- 
scribable, the one reality. The world of phenomena 
and change was but a dream, an illusion, an unreality. 
Individuality was but an illusion, and for the thinker 
the goal of knowledge was to realize the identity of 
the individual soul and the world soul. Salvation was 
“simply a quiet unstriving realization of one’s real self 
as free from all changes, even from transmigration, 
and as completely absorbed” in the Supreme Being. 
Says one of the writers of the day, “Whoever thus 
knows ‘I am Brahma!’ becomes this All.” This was 
not the sole theory of the times, but it was the domi- 
nant view. In it one has difficulty in finding any dis- 
tinctions whatsoever, as, for example, between good 
and evil, because there can be no distinctions if the 
individual is one with the impersonal Supreme. How- 
ever, the writers of the day do say that “he who has 
not ceased from immoral conduct cannot obtain God 
through the intelligence,” that as God is pure, so men 
may not be one with God and be at all impure. 

Now Buddhism was a development out of this gen- 
eral situation and a reaction against it. Buddha “did 
not teach a personal deity, worship, or prayer. Yet 
he taught a moral law in the universe which was 
ethically superior to the metaphysical Supreme Being 
taught in Hinduism from which he reacted.” He set 
himself against the priest and against caste, against 
metaphysical speculation and the ancient scriptures, 
and proclaimed ‘‘a consummate, perfect, and pure life 
of holiness.” Buddha centered his attention upon the 
problem of the widespread suffering of men. First of 
all, as an educated Hindu he sought a cure through 


THE SUBJECT 39 


philosophy, and failed to find it. He then tried the 
way of the ascetic, only to conclude after six years that 
the practise of austerities was as futile as ‘“endeavor- 
ing to tie the air into knots.” And then one night, 
while seated cross-legged under a fig tree at Buddh- 
Gaya in Bihar, his meditation turned slowly to insight 
and his insight to enlightenment. He had found the 
way for him. Ina word, the “way” was that all suffer- 
ing will cease if all desires are suppressed, and the way 
to suppress desires is by the Eight-fold Path that be- 
gins with open-mindedness and right belief and ends 
in concentration and the mystic trance, ensuring the 
emancipation of the heart and the end of the processes 
of rebirth. 

But what, after all, of this Way which the Buddha 
found? On the practical side it is a way of kindness 
by which one would reach the perfect state, an all- 
pervading kindness affecting all creatures, human and 
non-human. Arnold has referred to Buddhism as “the 
religion which doth make our Asia mild.” It was a 
way of kindness which knew no caste distinctions, a 
gentler and more sympathetic way than India had 
known before. How is it, then, that scarce three thou- 
sand Buddhists are found today in the whole Indian 
peninsula? Is India not amenable to kindness? Or 
were there in original Buddhism defects that made the 
faith give way instead of conquering? As also in the 
case of Confucianism, history has discovered grave de- 
fects in Buddha’s teaching. The qualities present at 
the very beginning contained the germs of their own 
defeat, and again we see that the origins of a religion 
are a part of the essential character of it. In a very 
real sense a stream cannot rise higher than its source. 


40 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIONS 


We must take into account, however, the develop- 
ment of religions as well as their origins, for growth, 
also, is a part of essential character. In the case of 
Buddhism, since there are so many millions of 
Buddhists ir. the world today, we may suspect that the 
religion has improved, in some respects at least, as the 
years have passed. 

The whole concern of Buddha himself was with his 
private salvation, save as he taught men that each must 
work out his own salvation, which lay in each man’s 
own hands. He found no place for God in his faith. 
He held the world in low estimate, and with it human 
life, the human body, womankind, and the family. He 
took a generally pessimistic view of the world and of 
human life. ‘These are grave defects, as history has 
proved. To later Buddhism the Master himself has 
become virtually a divine being who as God rules the 
world. In this and other ways the Buddhist movement 
has sought to fill up in its development what was lack- 
ing in its origin. It will be of interest to notice in this 
connection some aspects of later Buddhism, reminding 
ourselves, however, in this instance as in every other, 
that a statement which represents one man’s conclusion 
—the author’s in this case—should not be thought 
necessarily sufficient as an introduction to the theme for 
another man—the reader. 

The Buddhism of China and Japan is very different 
from the original Indian Buddhism. One has diffi- 
culty now and then in finding any real connection, and 
yet it is not at all necessary to suppose that any alien 
influence has been at work in the making of the later 


THE SUBJECT 4] 


type. The moral ideal, for one thing, has been trans- 
formed. Instead of Buddhism as a way by which the 
few might reach Nirvana, the ultimate goal, it has 
become a way for the many. Instead of the indi- 
vidual’s striving for his own private salvation by means 
within his own power, men put their trust in the many 
exalted beings, Buddhas-to-be, who developed in the 
system and who are engaged in the service of others. 
Charity becomes in the later day the virtue chiefly 
prized, and by charity is meant, “not the cold pity of 
an illumined aristocrat for the folly of the ignorant, 
but a fervid love’ devoted in self-sacrifice to the help 
of others. Social ambition has been kindled by the 
process of the suns. 

In this later Buddhism distinction was made between 
good and evil, and a system of rewards and punish- 
ments organized to meet the issues of this distinction. 
The Nirvana ideal itself was transformed. Instead 
of the negative, almost impersonal, and unconscious 
state taught by Buddha himself as the final goal of 
man, there developed in Buddhist thought the Western 
Paradise, a sensuous heaven where the Eternal Lord 
Buddha dwells, and where the saved may dwell with 
him eternally. Buddhism becomes, then, a religion as 
well as a system of ethics—a religion of love, and 
faith, and hope, centering about the deified Buddha. 
Buddha himself was virtually silent on questions of 
God, the soul, and immortality, but this void has been 
filled by his later followers under the compulsion of 
their instinct and their need. And what they have sup- 
plied has values we must reckon with if we would make 
a Christian world, for there have developed in 
Buddhism ideas much akin at a glance to the Chris- 


42 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


tian’s own. In modern Buddhism, which is one of the 
most influential phases of religion, there are indeed 
ample stores of inward experience of the heart within 
the forms which have developed through the centuries. 
What Buddhism has become is still to a marked degree 
a part of essential Buddhist religion. 

An observation must be made, however, in this con- 
nection. Although the later type of Buddhism may 
have developed from within itself, and is not neces- 
sarily indebted to alien influence, the development has 
been too inward, too subjective, too much within itself. 
It has been obliged to ignore or to defy its founder’s 
caution both with respect to God and to himself. It 
has created the apparatus necessary for a religion, with- 
out having the essential materials of religion based on 
history and on fact. Not only has this process made 
Buddha a god; it has taken to itself other gods as well. 
Polytheism was the great penalty imposed upon it in 
answer to its original atheism. It left out God, and 
now it is confused with many gods! What has hap- 
pened is in reality that Buddhists have taken fragments 
of their experience and made gods for themselves, as 
the smith and the carpenter did, of whom the prophet 
Isaiah speaks. With some of their wood they kindled 
a fire, and with the residue thereof they made them 
gods. If such, then, is of essential Buddhism, it is 
essential weakness. Saving gods are not the creatures 
of men’s hands and minds. Nor is a saving faith thus 
made. 


Has Christianity developed after this manner? Was 
there an initial void which succeeding centuries had to 
fill in order to commend the faith to men? Were the 


THE SUBJECT 43 


life and the teachings of the founder inadequate at last 
to meet men’s needs? The veneration of Jesus by the 
early apostles involved no forgetfulness of his real 
qualities. Some of his associates did indeed pass un- 
favorable comments upon him, but these had more 
reference to his office than to his person and his char- 
acter. His moral character was never called into ques- 
tion, even by those who hated him and threatened him 
with death. To his Jewish enemies he was guilty of 
blasphemy, on other than moral grounds—because he 
“made himself equal with God.” To his friends and 
the multitudes he was in truth God manifest in power 
and in love. Men thought of him on every hand as 
sharing in the moral character of the eternal God, and 
as the embodiment of God’s purpose to save mankind. 
His divinity was not a mystery to them so much as his 
humanity—he was so manifestly ideal. He had come 
to inaugurate the reign of God and in his own person 
made manifest the ideal whom every man should imi- 
tate. Who looked upon him saw God. Who followed 
him found God. His own experience of God was 
something every man could imitate. 

The full realization of all this on the part of men 
came only after his death. Then they learned the great 
fact that death had not separated him from them, for 
he was still with them in spirit. He was present within 
his community and manifest in various spiritual opera- 
tions. He was the Messiah, and the Savior not only 
of them but of the whole world. A new and saving 
faith had been born, and succeeding generations of its 
advocates in lineal and legitimate descent have gone in 
the power which it conferred throughout the world, 
spreading its truth and winning men to its way of life. 


44 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


And the point for us to keep in mind just now is that 
all the needful power was given them at the very be- 
ginning. They had not to work out for themselves and 
for others an ideal which had no basis in fact. Jesus 
represented adequately not only what man is but what 
he should become by the same divine grace which made 
Jesus what he is. Christianity has developed, to be 
sure, and has gained in power with the centuries, but 
men have merely come to realize what Paul first com- 
prehended—that the salvation in Christ avails for every 
man, and that there is no other way of salvation. 


THE COMPLEX CHARACTER OF RELIGIONS 


We have been considering by means of typical ex- 
amples the origins and development of various re- 
ligions in relation to the essential character of these 
religions. Some results of our inquiry are negative 
and some are positive, but all point to the fact that we 
cannot know a religion without examining its entire 
history. We must have the total view in order to dis- 
criminate between things fundamental and things 
formal. This leads us to remind ourselves of a third 
aspect of this present inquiry; namely, the complexity 
which characterizes each of the various religions. 

There are significant variations in every great faith. 
There is no great faith which does not represent a 
fusion first or last of many elements. Nor is there 
any great faith which has not divided in the process of 
development. How complex after all is historical 
Christianity! This we know at more or less close 
range. We live in the midst of Christian sects and 
denominations which the centuries—and other forces 


THE SUBJECT 45 


than mere time—have produced. Each one of us is 
identified with one or another of these divisions of 
Christianity and may find his view of the whole colored 
somewhat by his loyalty to the part. Many of us may 
be in the position of the famous Parson Thwackum, 
who when speaking of religion meant the Christian re- 
ligion, and by the Christian religion meant the Prot- 
estant religion, and by the Protestant religion, the 
Church of England. It is, of course, the correction of 
this partial view of religion and of Christianity which 
is one of our aims in a proper program of missionary 
education. 

But first of all we must take into account here the 
facts in the whole field of religion. What is true of 
Christianity in the matter of divisions is also true of 
other faiths. But it may be that division is a sign of 
life rather than an occasion of despair! And, as the 
poet reminds us, there is life in the lily as well as in 
the oak. The virtue of religion is not merely in “grow- 
ing like a tree.” There may be weaker growths which 
are even fairer. The bare fact is, nevertheless, that 
religions have grown like plants, and because of certain 
psychological and other factors have become, if any- 
thing, even more diversified. The various religions 
have, however, much in common as to the very 
processes and principles by which they have become 
diversified. The student of comparative religion be- 
comes aware of striking parallels throughout the whole 
field. These parallels are of the greatest importance 
today in connection with modern Christian missions, 
and the study of religion. Similarities are more strik- 
ing than differences and are more valuable assets in 
missionary work. 


46 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


On one of the first pages of this book mention was 
made of our tendency to “lump” together foreign peo- 
ples and things. This quality of ours displays itself 
most prominently in our judgment of the non-Chris- 
tian religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, 
and especially Islam, are.very simple faiths to most of 
us—until we have opportunity to behold with growing 
amazement their extreme complexity. Did we think 
that two thousand five hundred years, or even a single 
millennium, as in the case of Islam, would produce no 
variation in these faiths? Recall, if you will, the brief 
paragraph on Hinduism quoted from a certain type of 
missionary manual (page 24). How very easily it dealt 
with its whole theme! Let us in contrast refer to 
Hinduism at some length, just as illustration of the 
vast variety in all the fields unknown to us—unknown, 
that is, to the members of our local parishes for whom 
we are endeavoring to formulate an attractive and 
profitable program of missionary education. 

Hinduism is a veritable congeries of faiths, and not 
a simple faith at all. It would take as many words as 
have been already written in this book to put in even 
the briefest compass what we mean by Hinduism, even 
though we confined ourselves to the current situation 
and ignored the range of history. But we must be 
content for the present to let the whole field pass 
rapidly before us. There are two hundred and twenty- 
five millions of Hindus. With them conduct is of 
more concern than creed. That is, as one of the offi- 
cial reports of India puts it, “No one (Hindu) is in- 
terested in what his neighbor believes, but he is very 
much interested in knowing whether he can eat with 
him or take water from his hands.” This is due to 


THE SUBJECT 47 


the fact that Hindus are divided and subdivided into 
castes based upon religious, occupational, national, or 
other principle. There are over two thousand mutually 
exclusive sub-castes among Hindus, mutually exclusive, 
that is, in matters of food and intermarriage. This 
engenders an exaggerated caste consciousness, and 
caste is practical, not theoretical. 

To some extent religion transcends this compart- 
mentalism, but more in theory than in practise, since 
Hindu orthodoxy consists mainly in conformity to 
caste regulations. What there was in the background 
of Buddhist India (pages 36-39) has persisted to the 
present day, and serves as the common denominator of 
caste-divided Hinduism. The main theological belief 
of Hinduism is still in one Supreme Being (Brahma), 
absolute, infinite, eternal, omnipresent, impersonal, un- 
knowable, indescribable, the one reality. As Brahma 
is the one reality, every soul is the whole and undivided 
Brahma, and so is infinite. The man who knows 
Brahma is one with Brahma. The external world is 
unreal, at least what reality it may have is due to 
ignorance and illusion. Brahma alone is real; all else 
is illusion. This is the characteristic thought of Hin- 
duism, the prevalent philosophy. We may call it 
pantheism. The religious force of it is that God is 
imminent in all things and dwells also in men’s hearts, 
and ethically the God who is all-pervading is the in- 
nate good in all. Says Tagore in his Sadhana, “To be 
truly united in knowledge, love, and service with all 
beings and thus to realize one’s self in the all-pervad- 
ing God is the essence of goodness.”’ This relieves us 
somewhat, does it not, of the idea that the soul is 
“drowned in the boundless Sea”? There is place, then, 


48 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


for religion and for ethics, for God, and love, and serv- 
ice in such an interpretation as is given by Tagore and 
many others to this Hindu pantheism. But still we 
ask, what of the religion of the common Hindu who 
judges and is governed by what is done rather than 
by any view he may hold of the universe of men and 
things? However, this theoretical belief in “one im- 
minent, all-inclusive, all-sanctifying World Soul” is 
the chief phase of Hindu thought. It is the Indian 
Idea. 

But there are other beliefs as well by which the 
Hindus live. The fifteenth century poet Kabir speaks 
as follows for many who give a mystical turn to typi- 
cal pantheism: “The creature is in Brahma, and 
Brahma is in the creature; they are ever distinct, yet 
ever united.” ‘My Lord hides Himself, and my Lord 
wonderfully reveals Himself.” “He is without form, 
without quality, without decay. . . . But that formless 
God takes a thousand forms in the eyes of His crea- 
tures.”’ “All men and all women of the world are His 
living forms.” “The Lord is in me, the Lord is in 
you, as life is in every seed.’’ Kabir preaches in all 
this a faith superior to and destructive of caste dis- 
tinctions, saying, “It is but folly to ask what the caste 
of a saint may be,” for men of all castes and all faiths 
have sought and found God, and having achieved that 
end, there remains no mark of distinction. This is 
quite antagonistic to priestly Hinduism. But an 
agnostic note is heard in his poems which places him 
at a disadvantage in the face of Brahmin knowledge 
of all things. He himself confessed, “I do not know 
what manner of God is mine,”—quite in contrast again 
with one (Paul) who knew “whom he had believed.” 


THE SUBJECT 49 


The immediate result of Kabir’s work was, therefore, 
another Hindu sect. 

In practical Hinduism the many gods are far more 
prominent and potent than the One. Their worship 
represents a reaction against the absolute, pessimistic 
negation of life and of the world, which we have por- 
trayed above in terms of pantheism. This polytheistic 
worship has not, however, introduced an optimistic 
note, for in popular Hinduism life and the world are 
still evil. Rather, it has merely brought something of 
the more personal in its polytheism. Hinduism ex- 
hibits both monotheistic and polytheistic ideas held at 
one and the same time—a very interesting situation— 
for all the gods that are worshiped very directly by the 
common people are merely forms, say the thinkers, in 
which the Supreme Being has appeared. Thus the 
apologists for polytheism! 

The most popular of the gods in India is Shiva, “the 
Great God Shiv.” Benares is peculiarly his holy city, 
but his temples are found all over India. He is vari- 
ously the Destroyer, the Reproducer, the Great Ascetic, 
the Soul of the Universe. He is the refuge for man 
and beast, the “auspicious,” the creator of the world, 
the redeemer of mankind. One of his South Indian 
devotees sings: 


He who came to earth and begged for alms, 
He is the thief who stole my heart away. 
Madman men think Him, but He is the Lord. 


And another, also of the South: 


But if they love Shiva, who hides in his hair 
The river of Ganga, then whoe’er they be, 


50 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Foul lepers, or outcastes, yea, slayers of kine, 
To them is my homage, gods are they to me. 


And another: 


Henceforth for me no birth, no death, 
No creeping age, bull-rider mine, 
Sinful and full of lying breath 
Am I, but do Thou mark me Thine. 


All of which testifies to the intense devotion of 
Shiva’s votaries to him, and to the ideas prevalent in 
their devotion. Even more intense devotion is given 
to his consort Kali, especially among the Bengalis. 


Shiva is the most popular god, for he has absorbed 
into himself and allied with himself so great a variety 
of qualities that worshipers of every taste may find 
satisfaction in him. 

And yet there is another great god of India with 
whom Shiva must share supremacy. He is Vishnu, 
the third of the great triad—Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu. 
In this scheme Brahma is the Creator and the Ultimate; 
Shiva is the terrible Destroyer, the god of Fear; and 
Vishnu is the Preserver, the god of Love. Vishnu is 
both a local deity and an Infinite Spirit, but he is more 
the latter than the former, by reason of a doctrine of 
incarnation through which he is represented to his wor- 
shipers in the gods Rama and Krishna. He is to the 
philosophical devotee “the sole Reality, of whom the 
entire material world and all spirits of men and gods 
form but the body.” But it is to Rama and Krishna 
that the Vishnu-ites make the more immediate appeal. 
The story of Rama—and of his wife Sita—may be 


THE SUBJECT 51 


read with delight in the poet Tulsi Das’ Ramayana. 
-He is the pattern of noble manhood, and she, the su- 
preme example of womanly purity and fidelity. And 
the mutual love of Sita and Rama, says Tulsi Das, 
“exceeds all sense, or intelligence, or speech, or percep- 
tion.” Here follows a portion of one of the poet’s 
rapturous hymns to Rama, which is read devotionally 
by hosts of India’s sons. 


Glory to Rama of incomparable beauty; the bodiless, the 
embodied; the merciful, the mighty-armed, the dispeller of 
all life’s terrors; without beginning and unborn; the indi- 
visible; the one; beyond the reach of all the senses; the 
incarnate; an everlasting delight to the soul of the saints; 
the friend of the unsensual, the destroyer of lust and every 
other wickedness; at once inaccessible and accessible, like 
and unlike, the essentially pure, the unfailing comforter, who 
is ever at the command of his servants. May he abide in my 
heart, the terminator of transmigration, whose praises make 
pure. 


Hear also some of the words which Tukaram of 
western India addresses to Rama: 


I am a mass of sin; 
Thou art all purity; 

Yet Thou must take me as I am 
And bear my load for me. 


In God, in God—forget him not !— 
Do thou thy refuge find. 


Oh, flee from thence. Only by faith 
Canst thou to God attain. 


52 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


There is another side to Vishnu than that which 
Rama represents; it is that represented by Krishna. 
Both Rama and he are considered by Hindus as origi- 
nally historical characters. There are writings which 
tell the story of Krishna’s life, but his place in Hindu 
religion is best seen in the Bhagavad Gita, the “Lord’s 
Song,” where he is represented as the speaker. The 
Gita is an ancient philosophical poem of composite 
character, but it makes its claim to widespread accept- 
ance chiefly on the ground of the grace of Krishna by 
which men may be saved. In it Krishna declares: 


Doing always all works, making his home in Me, one 
attains by My grace to the everlasting, changeless region. 
... If thou hast thy thought on Me, thou shalt by My grace 
pass over all hard ways. ... Surrendering all the Laws, 
come for refuge to Me alone. I will deliver thee from all 
sins; grieve not... . Have thy mind on Me, thy devotion 
toward Me, thy sacrifice to Me, do homage to Me. 


And yet, we must remind the reader, this lofty 
phase of Krishnaism does not stand alone. There is a 
lower form, an erotic aspect, in which worship of this 
god of Love is carried on with emotional abandon. 
Krishna himself, it is sad to relate, set an example on 
this lower plane, where sensualism could be mistaken 
for religion. 

We shall not carry this present discussion of Hindu- 
ism much further. Enough has been said to show the 
great complexity of this religion. In general, if we 
may summarize, Hinduism offers salvation by three 
definite, although not always mutually exclusive ways. 
There is the way of knowledge, the way of works, and 
the way of devotion. If the reader will recall our 


THE SUBJECT 53 


whole presentation of Hinduism, he will see them all. 
The way of knowledge is chiefly the way of realization 
of the identity of the individual soul and the World 
Soul. The World Soul may be Brahma, Shiva, or 
Vishnu, according to the mind of the devotee. The 
way of works is the ascetic way, which Buddha tried 
and renounced, and which the masses of Hindus fol- 
low to this day. The ascetics of India are in the main 
devotees of the Great Ascetic Shiva. He is the Great 
God of Works, although works may be done in the 
name of any god. The way of devotion is the way of 
surrender to and reliance upon the god through whose 
grace men will be saved from the world of evil and of 
death. The god of this way is primarily Vishnu 
through his representatives Rama and Krishna, but 
Shiva also is the object of devotion as well as of works, 
although Shiva, unlike Vishnu, has no representatives 
or incarnations of himself. Here are, then, three ways 
of salvation, but in not one of them can one find a 
sound philosophy of salvation. It is sufficient for us 
here, however, merely to note how varied Hinduism is 
in its character and in its appeal to men. 

The choice of Hinduism to illustrate our idea of 
complexity was, of course, purely arbitrary, save as the 
little paragraph suggested it. Any other faith would 
have served our purpose, although any other non- 
Christian faith might not have served so well. India 
is truly a treasure-house of religion. No single land 
offers the student of religion quite so much as India 
does, whether from the historical or the contemporary 
point of view. Buddhism, also, is, as we may well 
suspect, an extremely varied field, and Islam, which we 
too often consider a very simple faith, exhibits many 


54 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


and astonishing varieties. We shall see something of 
the complexity of Islam before we have.concluded our 
whole study, for the chief materials used later in this 
book to illustrate the project method of missionary 
education are Islamic. We do not forget other faiths 
in this procedure, for our constant thought is how to 
bring the distant faiths of men into our immediate 
local parish consciousness. This is not a book of com- 
parative religion, but a book of missionary education. 
We are finding, however, that the principal materials 
for our use are from the field of comparative religion. 
It is the Christian religion which we would have 
triumph throughout the earth, and so we are bound to 
study the religions of others to that end. 


THE Fruits oF VaRIOUs RELIGIONS 


We have yet to make some inquiry regarding the 
fruits of the non-Christian faiths, for we are not to 
judge these faiths without such an examination. Even 
here we cannot generalize without a prior analysis. In 
our missionary educational work we have often made 
much use of the “fruits” of other religions. Especially 
does this method lend itself to “projects,” and dramatic 
representations. Prayer-wheels and priests, magic and 
incantation, the uncured lame and halt and blind, these 
and other institutions and individuals are exhibited to 
prove to us the futility of the non-Christian faiths. 
These examples are all practical, tangible aspects of our 
subject, and surely we are looking for tangible things 
when we look for fruits. But there devolves upon us 
the need of extreme caution in this matter. We must 


THE SUBJECT 55 


satisfy ourselves as to what is really typical, and what 
is really due to the religion itself which we are typify- 
ing. This is no easy task. A wide familiarity with the 
general situation is a prerequisite. We should ask our- 
selves and others many questions and proceed slowly. 
Mistakes are inevitable, but they should be of the prac- 
tically unavoidable kind, rather than those which issue 
from our unpreparedness. Always we should bear in 
mind that more important even than the fruits ex- 
hibited are the interpretations which we put upon our 
exhibit and the spirit in which we handle our various 
materials. 

Now let us, in our present inquiry, be practical rather 
than theoretical. As one looks out over the earth he 
views a condition of distressing need. As one reads 
new books or travels, he finds himself thus con- 
fronted. Most of the needs we see at once to lie in the 
realm we call the ethical. The world is full of striving 
and suffering, as Buddha observed, and in spite of him 
is still, The market-place is full of bargaining, and the 
current talk is of money, food, and clothing, in spite 
of the Hindu ideal of renunciation and other-worldli- 
ness. Rulers in high and low places are disregarding 
the welfare of their subjects, contrary to the Confucian 
ideal of the ruler whose chief concern was the state. 
Disaster is visited upon communities of Christians in 
disregard of Mohammed’s ideal of tolerance. The 
question naturally arises, to what extent have the great 
faiths of men ethical power? Is Hinduism an ethical 
religion? Is Buddhism? Is Islam? Does Confucian- 
ism, a recognized ethical system, display a power to 
attain its own ideals? Here are faiths, each with its 


56 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


millions of followers to whom it is ministering. Do 
these faiths meet men in their need, disclose to them 
the true situation, solve their problems for them, and 
show them an attractive and adequate way out? 

This is altogether a very wide field of inquiry. How 
can one do it justice! It is not after all solely a matter 
of ethics. There are other vital issues involved, with 
always earnest and capable advocates of any faith 
ready to rise up in its defense against its critics. 

Let us look for a moment through the eyes of one of 
these advocates; at least, let us imagine him speaking. 
He tells us that we Christians are accustomed to 
attribute too much to the religion itself when we com- 
pare some of the worst elements in his social order 
with some of the best in our own, and when we say 
that the difference between his order and ours is a 
matter of difference in religion. He reminds us that 
we have considered famines as due to Hinduism, 
Turkish massacres as due to Islam, opium dens in 
Shanghai and “lily feet” in Peking as fruits of Chinese 
religion, and have compared with them the plenty, 
peace, and virtue within Christendom which, we say, 
are due to Christianity. We must acknowledge that 
at times, from the printed page and from the public 
platform, we have sought rhetorical effect or other 
ends by such means. We have perhaps been conscious 
at the time that there was some real justification in 
our method, but we have not always taken care to 
make the rigidly right analysis and then to draw the 
cogent inferences. And so we have laid ourselves open 
to the charge of unfairness. But let us take the charge 
against us for what it is worth, and resolve that we 
shall not be again indiscriminate in our exhibition of 


THE SUBJECT 57 


the fruits of the various faiths. After all, we must 
know the faiths by their fruits as well as by their pur- 
poses. Consider briefly the status of woman in non- 
Christian lands. 

Take first the evil of child-marriage in Hinduism. 
When a leading Hindu declares that early marriage is 
the “greatest evil’ of his country, he does not charge 
his faith directly with it. He condemns it, as a Chris- 
tian might condemn the liquor traffic or the brothel, 
and turns to his faith to find a way to cure it! But 
there must be, after all, some causal connection be- 
tween Hinduism and child-marriage. The writer often 
recalls what his Hindu pundit once said to him, “The 
time comes for the tree to bear fruit, and so it is with 
women.” He was echoing a theory of essential Hindu- 
ism. And yet, as a Hindu, he never met the question 
of two and one quarter million wives of India under 
ten years of age, ten per cent of whom were under 
five years of age. When the time of bearing comes, 
one out of every seventy women of India die in 
childbirth, and there is appalling mortality among 
infants. It is destiny! And many other ills of life are 
dismissed as due to the operation of irrevocable and 
inscrutable fate. Certainly these conditions are ulti- 
mately fruits of religion. Hinduism holds that a 
woman at the time of childbirth is ceremomially (re- 
ligiously) unclean. This religion in fact is so inter- 
woven into life and so dominant a factor in all phases 
of life that many such conditions in the social order 
may be directly charged against it. If religion insists 
upon or is satisfied with sacred leaves thrown upon the 
house-top in the time of childbirth to keep the evil 
spirits away rather than being insistent upon cleanli- 


58 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


ness within the house, the resultant evils may surely be 
laid at the door of the religion of that house. 

Why are modern women of China turning away 
from Confucianism unless it is because Confucius set 
the permanent seal of inferiority upon them? “If no 
(such) distinction,’ said Confucius, “were observed 
between males and females, disorder would arise and 
grow.’ Woman must keep to her proper place in the 
family and the home. In reality, that distinction be- 
tween males as superior and females as inferior is a 
root of disorder! 

A Moslem recently reminded us with vigor that the 
veil is not a fruit of Islam. He was right, of course. 
The veil for women antedates Islam by centuries. It 
is the symbol of the oriental view of womanhood; but 
the attitude of Islam is oriental, and the veil was 
readily incorporated. He might still argue that the 
veil—and the position which it symbolizes—is not in- 
eradicable, and point to recent events as proof. He 
might argue, too, that polygamy might be abandoned 
consistently with true Islam. We hail with satisfac- 
tion whatever progress Islam or any other non-Chris- 
tian faith may make, but we still have a query as to 
how it really comes about. 

We think inevitably of Jesus’ estimate of woman- 
hood,—a unique appraisal,—not merely as to political 
status, but as to her rightful place in the whole social 
order. His high regard for woman was one of the 
noblest of his contributions to ethics and a spiritual 
view of life, and what Christian civilization—and non- 
Christian as well—has achieved in the exaltation of 
womanhood is but progress toward the goal set by 
Jesus rather than a development away from, or inde- 


THE SUBJECT 59 


pendent of, and in spite of the mind of the founder 
of the faith. This fruit in Christianity is not, there- 
fore, a gourd too heavy for its vine to bear aloft, and 
which, in consequence, droops to the earth and meets 
the danger of decay. Women occupy places of great 
prominence with reference to the life of Christ. St. 
Luke delights to show their part in the gospel story. 
Jesus’ teaching and healing ministry was carried on 
among women as freely as among men. Women 
moved about in early Christian society with a freedom 
and prominence quite in contrast with the restraint and 
suppression commonly observed in Eastern civilization, 
and beyond anything even in the progressive Jewish 
order. Jesus struck a new note which continues to 
sound as the clearest and best note on the world’s 
womanhood. “By their fruits ye shall know them,” 
both men and religious systems. 

Not the least damaging observation which might be 
made in connection with the fruits of the non-Christian 
religions—to cite another type of example—is the 
negative attitude toward progress and reform which 
these faiths have taken when left to their own initia- 
tive,—and which, to be sure, organized Christianity 
also has often taken when it has lapsed from the high 
estate of its origin. These non-Christian religions 
have not only been content to do practically nothing 
with regard to important matters of life, but have de- 
clared such efforts to be entirely futile. They have 
possessed a state of mind indifferent and even hostile | 
to such matters. Now a state of mind is a very potent 
thing, especially when it represents the confirmed habits 
of centuries. It gives weighty significance to the com- 
mon and casual expressions heard on every hand 


60 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


throughout the East: “To what purpose?” ‘What can 
we do?” “It is our custom,” and the like. When 
after two thousand years of adherence to a faith the 
masses go about with such words upon their lips and 
notions in their minds which such words signify, the 
situation is indeed lamentable. There may have been 
tremendous economic factors figuring in the formation 
of this state of mind, but religion should have taught 
men to live and be superior to them. It was Jesus 
alone who said, “Be of good cheer, I have overcome 
the world.” And only he has told men the secret of 
being in the world and in God at one and the same 
time. 

Before leaving this immediate subject it is well to 
remind ourselves of three things beyond those which 
we have already specifically discussed. First, the fruits 
of the non-Christian religions are many and varied, 
and must be separately considered, not only in a com- 
parative view of these faiths, but with reference to 
any one faith alone. Suicide, for example, is a com- 
mon practise of Hinduism, but little known in Islam. 
The Hindu and the Moslem have different views of 
life, the world, and the hereafter. Again, the Hindu 
is monogamous in ideal, and in general practise, with 
provision in his sacred writings for polygamy under 
certain circumstances. The Moslem has before him 
the ideal and example of polygamy, but with monog- 
amy made possible by the Koran and imperative by 
progress. It will pay us and do justice to the cause 
of truth in the non-Christian religions to examine each 
phase of a religion in the light of its general setting. 
We have tried to indicate something of this larger 
view. 


THE SUBJECT 61 


Second, we should look for the good fruits every- 
where and take pleasure in finding them. How often 
in earlier days we have looked for the bad qualities. 
Our missionaries, for example, searched the non-Chris- 
tian scriptures and other non-Christian writings for the 
purpose of discovering their flaws, and often ignored 
even where they found them qualities of a commendable 
sort which might diminish the non-Christian need of 
the Christian gospel. The writer himself during his 
first year of service as a missionary studied a booklet 
called Dharmtula, or “Religion Weighed,” in which 
the Hindu scriptures were searched for the sake of 
their defects. The author displayed no sense what- 
ever of appreciation of Hindu virtue, nor did he 
realize many of the risks of the exclusively scriptural 
method of comparison. As the years have gone and 
the scriptures of all the great religions have become bet- 
ter known, a wholesome change of method has oc- 
curred. A historical study of these writings has been 
of immense benefit. The chief results of this study 
are available now in our own tongue for any of us 
who desire to know them. Former faulty English 
translations are being revised, new materials are being 
produced, and we have at our ready command the rich 
treasures of Eastern religion. These are of surpass- 
ing value in the work of missionary education in the 
local parish. 

Third, there is the possibility of reform in all the 
great non-Christian faiths. What ground for rejoic- 
ing there is in this! If taking the Christian gospel to 
the non-Christian world meant the latter’s discarding 
all its heritage, where could room be found for the 
refuse? It would be difficult indeed to clear space 


62 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


enough for a new and perfect building. But when we 
make up our minds to use old materials, the way seems 
easier and better. This change of view on our part— 
and especially on the part of the non-Christian—is one 
of the inferences from the growing acceptance of the 
ideas of progress, the unity of life, and human 
docility. We no longer proceed on the basis of the 
impossible—we do not expect an ancient order to tear 
itself entirely loose from its old life. We expect 
forms as such to yield wherever necessary, but we look 
for life to flow continuously on. What a conception 
it is, the men of all lands finding themselves in the 
common life of the world. There is, however, a 
greater conception still, the world’s life in God through 
Jesus Christ. 

If we grant these three things, as indeed we must, 
we may well expect to learn many valuable lessons 
through our missionary program and endeavor. Many 
writers have called our attention to what the West 
might learn from the East. In his delightful volume 
on India and Its Faiths, Professor Pratt mentions 
some of the things which India, for example, might 
teach us, such as a sense of outer decency, a sense of 
the indecency of drunkenness, a feeling of repugnance 
at the thought of killing, the desirability of curbing 
self-assertiveness and self-consciousness, and the value 
of contemplation. Even the lot of Eastern woman has 
not been, we find by the newer view, an unrelieved 
curse. Seclusion and the veil have had their meaning 
for respectability, and womanhood has been held, after 
all, in a certain high regard. We observe that the 
world-denying attitude and the life of contemplation is 
not altogether without its benefits. East is East, and 


THE SUBJECT 63 


West is West, and each may learn from the other’s 
best—if we may revise Kipling. 

But the West has yet the larger lessons for the East 
to learn. <A certain amount of this-worldliness is 
necessary to counteract the characteristic other-world- 
liness of the East. Man is in reality a citizen of two 
worlds. Buddhism—and Hinduism, to a large extent 
—recognizes the fact of suffering in this life, but not 
the value of it. There is no positive note in essential 
Buddhism calling upon men to endure hardship as 
good soldiers of the Master, to abide in the world and 
yet overcome it. The ideal religion must concern 
itself with both the present world and the next. 


Our Morive 


What, may we now ask, as we close this chapter, 
has been our motive in this long discussion of the 
non-Christian religions? Our original statement 
(page 15) contains the answer: “. . . for the sake of 
understanding, appreciation, cooperation, and Chris- 
tianization.” Formerly we might have said simply 
that our motive was missionary. We still mean that, 
but we say it otherwise. There is a good deal in the 
way we say things, and the way we say things now 
indicates a change of mind about our enterprise. 
There is a new missionary motive. To quote a dis- 
tinguished English apologist for missions, “The 
purpose of foreign missions is seen to be, not the 
snatching of a few brands from the burning, but the 
Christianizing of the civilization, culture, morals, and 
manners of whole nations.” At the beginning of the 
modern foreign missionary enterprise the task was 


64 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


taken to be of comparatively short duration. Even at 
the founding of the Student Volunteer Movement the 
motto was, ‘““The Evangelization of the World in This 
Generation.” At the Indianapolis convention of this 
Movement in 1924, the beginning of the second gen- 
eration was faced with the world far from having 
been evangelized, and the new note in missions sound- 
ing the call to reconsider the whole task. It is a larger 
task than we assumed at the outset it was. It is a 
different task, too, from what we had originally 
thought it to be. 

For one thing, we are trying to understand the 
foreign peoples concerned, and are taking time to do 
so. It takes time. To whom of us hath the mind of 
the East been revealed, even after these many years of 
our contact with Eastern peoples! The field of ori- 
ental psychology alone has its baffling intricacies and de- 
ceiving distances. One may never come to know it 
with any high degree of assurance, but he will never 
fail to profit in the sincere, sustained attempt. Under- 
standing has to do not only with the outer form but 
also with the inner meaning. To understand the non- 
Christian, one must seek above all things to know his 
mind. We should know to what extent it is necessary 
for him to “change his mind’? when we call upon 
him to do so. John the Baptist was of the race of 
those He summoned to repentance; Jesus was of the 
seed of David; Mohammed was an Arab; Buddha, a 
Hindu; and Confucius, a well-descended son of China. 
These all shared the inner life and thought of their 
people, whom they taught and led. We are aliens as 
we go abroad in behalf of the gospel. In the minds 
of the non-Christians abroad we are aliens as we stay 


THE SUBJECT 65 


at home in support of it. There is emphatic obligation 
resting upon us to interpret aright the minds of those 
whom we would evangelize, this both in justice to 
them and also to our own great joy and satisfaction. 

Furthermore, appreciation is dependent upon under- 
standing. We have not appreciated foreign peoples 
because we have not understood them. In so many 
cases the more we know them, the better we like them. 
Of course, there are some outward things in every land 
which we can appreciate apart from the people and 
their mental states. The Shanghai Flower Pagoda, the 
towers of Madura, a Himalayan sunset in the rains, 
Mount Fuji, and the mosque of Mehmet Ali are some 
of these. We may spend many a delightful hour with 
works of foreign literature. The manners and customs 
of foreign peoples may interest us either at long range 
or under close observation. But what, after all, are 
these things apart from the people whom they repre- 
sent! It is the holiness of Fuji that makes the moun- 
tain central in the landscape of Japan. The gigantic 
towers of Madura are alive with figures chiseled out of 
the stone to tell their tales of the doings of Indian 
gods and men. One may wander over the earth and 
seeing, he may not see, and hearing, he may not hear or 
understand. In missionary educational work we are 
not serving the highest ends by mere descriptions of 
outward things. We are charged with instilling into 
the minds of our constituency a more thoroughgoing 
appreciation of the inner life of foreign lands and 
peoples. 

For there is a still larger end in view—cooperation. 
Someone might ask at once, “Do you mean Christian 
cooperation with non-Christian peoples?’ Yes, we 


66 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


confess at once, we do. Let us illustrate. When the 
author was a missionary in Jabalpur, India, he was 
president for a time of the Young Men’s Christian 
Association of that city. Contributions were made 
toward the work by both Hindus and Moslems of 
Jabalpur, as well as by Christians. It is common prac- 
tise for adherents of various faiths throughout the 
world to make gifts to Christian hospitals, schools, and 
other institutions in the East. There are, indeed, chan- 
nels through which common philanthropy may properly 
flow in behalf of the common welfare. In certain 
practical ventures the many faiths of men must work 
together for the general good. If we know and appre- 
ciate each other, the idea of cooperation presents no 
insuperable difficulties. It becomes, rather, a joyful 
privilege. 

There is, however, a phase of this problem to which 
we should call special attention. It is the matter of co- 
operation between Christian nationals of foreign lands 
and Christians here in “the home field.” It must be 
borne in mind that a Christian Chinese is a Chinese, a 
Christian Indian is an Indian, and so on throughout 
the non-Christian world where the Christian Church 
has spread. The Coptic Christian may become an 
evangelical, but he remains an Egyptian. Perplexing 
questions are raised concerning the relation of foreign 
to home constituencies, many of which are due solely 
or chiefly to the method by which the work of missions 
was conducted in past years; some of which are due 
to the nature of the situation itself. But still the ques- 
tions arise and must be faced. No missionary educa- 
tional program is adequate—or educational—which 
ignores these issues. We of the homeland must take 


THE SUBJECT 67 


into account the mind of the Church abroad, and under- 
take by all means to be workers together in the com- 
mon interests of the Kingdom of God. This means 
our recognition of the fact that others will interpret 
Christian truth and life in ways harmonious with their 
own genius and their needs. As Dr. Jones says in his 
new book, The Christ of the Indian Road, ‘‘We want 
the East to keep its own soul—only thus can it be 
creative,’ so we say, we want the Eastern Christian to 
keep his own soul and thus create that which ministers 
to the needs at his hand. 


There is an ultimate goal, nevertheless, toward 
which all our combined efforts should move us. We 
seek the welfare of the world in Christ. This is in its 
ultimate terms far from assent to the notion that each 
faith or each form is best for its own adherents. The 
cogent facts often declare the contrary. But there is 
a sense in which each people must work out its own 
salvation, if it be the Lord which works in them both 
to will and to do of his good pleasure. There is a 
sense in which each people must use its own means, 
live its own life, set its own forms, and follow the 
Christ who walks in its own highways. There are 
diversities of gifts. There is one Lord. 

We aim, therefore, at the Christianization of the 
world. That includes ourselves, also! Notice the 
words at the end of our original statement of the prob- 
lem of this book, “of ourselves as well as others.” 
Did we not realize that missionary education is for our 
own salvation, too! We too must learn what true 
Christianity is. We have been brought up amid so 
many forms of the Christian faith that we have not 


68 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


been able to see the woods for the trees. We must 
learn what is essential and what is ephemeral, what is 
substance and what is mere form. Does it really mat- 
ter whether we stand for prayer, or kneel? Which 
name, as such, signifies the larger Christian truth, 
Baptist, Presbyterian, or Episcopalian? Forms may 
be full of meaning, and are to be taken for what they 
are worth, but in the final analysis it is life which 
counts most, and the mind with which we make and 
meet its issues. There is but one Christ, and the one 
God is like Christ. The highest religious achievement 
open to men is the attainment of Christlike character 
by which they know the true and living God. We look, 
therefore, beyond the forms to the great truth itself, 
and set ourselves by all means to attain to it. 

A study of the non-Christian religions is most valu- 
able to teach us discrimination between form and sub- 
stance. We may judge with a rare degree of impar- 
tiality—-when not comparing the non-Christian faith 
with our own—what is vital and what is accidental in 
an alien faith. We may pass in review the relation to 
religion of prayers, sermons, singing, congregational 
worship, in fact the whole range and variety of ritual. 
We may study out in this objective realm the ques- 
tions of doctrine and their relation to times and men. 
We may inquire more particularly into the develop- 
ment of the idea of God among the various faiths. 
We may, in a word, find out what religion is and 
means, and we may venture an opinion as to what re- 
ligion should be in order to win the allegiance of all 
men. Then we may turn back to our own faith and > 
weigh it with something more than our merely tradi- 
tional experience and assent. We ask for it no treat- 


THE SUBJECT 69 


ment different from that which we accord to other 
faiths. It must stand on its own merits. It must win 
by the essential qualities in which it is superior to the 
essential qualities of other faiths, by such things, if 
we may venture to suggest them, as: its concern for 
the life that is and is to be; its radiant optimism as to 
things present and things to come; its high, prophetic 
ethics grounded in a motive which insures success; its 
willingness to see good in all men and to point them 
all to an ideal human perfectness ; its living, active, lov- 
ing God, who inspires men to a religion of aggressive 
love. In all this shines the figure of Christ, who is in 
himself the realization of the ideal. 

Let there be no doubt of the value for us of a 
properly conceived and executed missionary educational 
program. Words of counsel cannot tell us what its 
merits are. Only the actual attempt can convince us. 
We turn now to consider against the necessary back- 
ground which we have just surveyed some means by 
which these merits may be realized in any local parish. 


II 
ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM 


4 NHE materials of the foregoing chapter have 


been offered as necessary background for the 

program which this book presents. It is as- 
sumed that everyone who has a leading part in the 
organization and execution of the program in any 
local church will give thoughtful attention to Chapter 
I. In this way the mind of the congregation may be 
more readily leavened with the principles of the new 
approach to the non-Christian religions and peoples. 
To a very considerable extent the program herein pre- 
sented aims at the creation of a new missionary mind, 
an object which cannot be attained by reading,—nor 
can it be done without reading,—and it cannot be ac- 
complished in a short period of time. It is not merely 
a matter of “mission study.” Something must be 
done about it, something in addition to mental exercise, 
prayer, and self-denial. Something must be done by 
the local church in a thoroughgoing, systematic way. 
The third chapter of this volume offers specific sug- 
gestions regarding things to do. The present chapter 
is devoted to the organization necessary in order to 
do them effectively. 

The author is aware that this book will come to the 
attention—at least he hopes it will—of different sorts 
and conditions of leaders in local church work. Some 
will be far more expert than he in technical matters 
of religious education and in the conduct of a religious 
educational program. Many will have had a different 

70 


ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM 71 


type of experience from his in matters of missionary 
education. He begs the indulgence of all as he presents 
details which he deems necessary for the less expert, 
details which in any case seem necessary in order to 
make clear and concrete the full missionary educa- 
tional program with which this book deals. 


A DrrREcTor 


Call him Director of Missionary Education, if you - 
will. We are thinking in terms of one man rather than 
of a “missionary committee.” It is likely that one man 
—if he is the right man—will accomplish more than 
several could in the actual direction of the program, 
after its main features have been discussed and agreed 
upon by a representative group. Sometimes a new 
office and a new incumbent justify themselves in con- 
nection with a new venture in church work. In some 
parishes a reorganization would be very beneficial, if it 
could be carried out with due consideration for every- 
thing and everyone involved. A new office might be 
introduced merely by some readjustment rather than 
by discarding any feature formerly employed. If the 
church has a Director of Religious Education, or a 
Minister of Education, or a paid worker with some 
such title, who is responsible for the general oversight 
of education, then he might be the director of the mis- 
sionary program. Under ordinary circumstances this 
is a man’s job, as one may see who realizes all that the 
program calls for. 

Although we speak of our program as falling under 
the direction of one person, we assume that the church 


72 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


has a general Educational Committee under whose 
jurisdiction falls all the educational work of the parish, 
and that this one person represents the Committee. If 
the church has no such committee, the introduction of 
a missionary educational program would serve as a 
proper occasion for organizing one. By whatever 
means the church may accomplish it, the educational 
work should be unified and administered by the fewest 
possible number of committees. If there is a small 
missionary educational committee it will be a sub-com- 
mittee merely. Each local situation has its own 
peculiar conditions and will be governed by them ac- 
cordingly, but it is strongly recommended that the prac- 
tical direction of the missionary program be entrusted 
to one competent man. 

The competency of this man may not lie in his im- 
mediate control of methods and materials of mission- 
ary education, but rather in his personality and 
general ability. He may not even be what is ordinarily 
considered a “missionary” type. But given a genuine 
devotion to Christianity and interest in the broader 
aspects of the work of the Church Universal, he could 
use this book as a textbook for his guidance in the 
direction of a missionary program. If he will give 
spare time during several months to a study of this 
book and some of the materials to which it refers, he 
will contribute to his own education as well as equip 
himself for the direction of the program. If the theme 
of the program be things Islamic, let him read Sailer’s 
book, The Moslem Faces the Future, and use its 
bibliography on pages 231-239 for a general introduc- 
tion. 


\ 


ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM 73 


A SECRETARY 


The Director cannot attend to all the details as the 
program proceeds. ‘There will be much correspond- 
ence at various times. Multigraphing is often neces- 
sary. Copying has to be done now and then. If the 
church office is so organized, these details can be taken 
- care of through it. Otherwise, volunteer service must 
be relied upon. The secretaryship is an important 
office, and indispensable to the success of the program, 
especially at such times as require frequent correspond- 
ence and telephoning in connection with preparations 
for the Grand Project. It might be possible to have 
one person act both as secretary and librarian (see page 
82) of the program. He, or she, would find the work 
thus combined more interesting and rewarding. 


ORGANIZATION MEETING 


If local conditions indicate that this should be the 
first step in the process, the director and the secretary 
might be elected at this meeting. A better plan, how- 
ever, would be a prior appointment of these officers by 
whatever authorities have the power to do so. In this 
way the two officers would have opportunity to make a 
preliminary study of the enterprise—in conjunction 
with the pastor of the church, of course—and be pre- 
pared to come to the organization meeting with cer- 
tain definite proposals. They could bring in an esti- 
mate as to the extent of the program which they 
deemed it wise to undertake and indicate the specific 
phases of it which the local conditions would warrant. 
The Director could lay before the meeting the general 


74 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Idea as well (cf. Chap. 1). It might be that a number 
of those attending this meeting will have done already 
some preliminary reading at the direction of the 
Librarian, thus providing wholesome background for 
the discussion of specific details. It is the program and 
not the meeting which we are thinking of organizing, 
and so the widest possible preliminary acquaintance 
with the theme is best. 

The plan laid before the meeting will not be ideal, 
but one adapted to the local situation. A too elaborate 
program will not be undertaken the first year—it might 
defeat itself. Time and opportunity should be allowed 
for natural growth. It is the development of the local 
parish which is being considered, and this is a gradual 
process. The permanent value of the program will de- 
pend much upon its gradual development. This meet- 
ing, then, is called for the sake of setting forth the 
missionary project in its true light and for learning the 
mind of the parish with respect to it. All should be 
invited to the meeting who would be best able to 
consider and discuss the object of the meeting. They 
are the leaven of the whole lump. The pastor, for 
obvious reasons, might issue the call. Or, the Educa- 
tional Committee might do it. In any case the attempt 
is made through particular individuals to spread the 
Idea and to gain the cooperation of the greatest pos- 
sible number ultimately. Cooperation is sought on the 
basis of specific proposals. 


A SuRVEY 


In some way or other take stock of the parish, con- 
sider the persons upon whom you can depend in carry- 


ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM 75 


ing out the program. This might be done, at least in 
part, at the organization meeting. Certainly the Di- 
rector will consider the matter most carefully. Do not 
assume that those who have been taking care in times 
past of the missionary interests of the parish are those 
to whom the new program will be entrusted, unless they 
are the best persons for the work. Inquire for new 
personnel with a view to the development of new 
leaders. Some aspects of the program may appeal to 
competent persons who have not been active in the 
parish work. Let new occasions enlist new workers 
and teach new duties. The survey might take into ac- 
count any particular local needs, and furnish ground 
for procedure in the meeting of those needs. For ex- 
ample, there might be no young people’s class or group 
in the Church School, chiefly because there had been 
no course of study in which the young people were in- 
terested. Other groups already in the scheme of things 
might be spurred to increased activity by some special 
task. 

The survey will enable those in charge to view the 
situation as a whole, and to see .it as a whole long 
enough ahead of time to keep superficiality out of the 
enterprise. All this will be brought out as account is 
taken of teachers and teaching, dramatics and the 
players, stories and story-telling, the mission study 
class and its leader, the annual Church Institute, the 
various minor projects, special series of addresses, etc. 
It may be decided to do just what is warranted in the 
light of equipment and personnel, in the expectation 
that a modest beginning will pave the way for a per- 
manent reorganization in which missionary education 
is an integral part of the general educational program. 


76 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


The survey, made by whatever agency can do it well, 
will enable those in charge of the program to bend 
every effort toward the development of local initiative. 
That is, the local church will be making its own pro- 
gram, and not attempting to modify and carry through 
a program submitted to them from outside the parish 
bounds. This does not mean that any local church 
will decline to cooperate with the general boards of its 
denomination—far from it. It means that the local 
body will attempt to develop its every fiber and muscle 
for the sake of more life to itself and greater power 
to cooperate through the general boards. Its own pro- 
gram, if well conceived, will be best fitted to its own 
needs. It will allow for growth and expansion. We 
are thinking in terms of the oak rather than of the 
corn-stalk, although growth and expansion are true of 
both, and both have their uses. We are eager to 
emphasize the importance of local initiative, regardless 
of the polity and organization of the denomination. 
Such a plan yields larger returns educationally, and 
therein lies our main interest. 


SCHEDULE 


We refer here to the time element in the formulation 
and execution of the program. For convenience, we 
may set the date of the Grand Project (see Chapter IV ) 
first and then work back from that time. Usually the 
best time for the Grand Project is in the month of 
May, certainly not later than early June. It might 
come in the week preceding Children’s Day, and not 
interfere at all with the latter, or, the two might be 
combined in some way. ‘The time of the Grand 


ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM 77 


Project might depend to some extent upon the availa- 
bility of costumes and exhibit materials (which should 
be booked in advance and made sure of). We leave, 
then, an indefinite period of several weeks from which 
the two or three days may be chosen for the Grand 
Project. During the preceding autumn we have to 
take into account other phases of the church’s work 
for the year. For this reason we propose beginning 
our program after Christmas. But even so, we do not 
assume that it has thereafter a monopoly on the time 
and energy of the parish. If possible and expedient, 
however, the missionary educational work might hold 
the center of the stage from February to May, in- 
clusive, four months in all. 

With the time definitely agreed upon as a part of 
the regular church schedule, preliminary work can be 
done in due season. During the autumn the mission- 
ary educational leaders could be leisurely preparing the 
program. During the month of January more in- 
tensive work could be done. During this month the 
teachers might do most of their preliminary reading in 
anticipation of the lessons which they are to handle 
from February to June (see page 84). They could 
determine some of the minor projects which their 
classes might undertake. (See pages 91-95.) 

The preparation and presentation of the Grand 
Project is discussed in Chapter IV. 


REFERENCE LIBRARY 


This program cannot be carried through without 
books and reading. The church should have assembled, 
at least by New Year’s Day, its own minimum refer- 


78... MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


ence library. From twenty-five to fifty dollars should 
be spent for books. The “nucleus” named by Dr. 
Sailer in The Moslem Faces the Future, page 231, 
could be secured for about $12.50. The following 
minimum list for a Moslem project could be purchased 
for about forty dollars, including more than one copy 
of a book in each of several instances. In making the 
list we have in mind the average worker upon whom 
the program depends. The order in which the titles 
appear represents a certain progression and rounding 
out of the theme of Islam, but is not an indication that 
any one worker must read all the books listed. 


1. The Story of the Saracens. ARTHUR GILMAN. G. P. 
Putnam’s Sons, New York. Out of print. 

Second-hand copies might be obtained through a 
dealer. This book deals with the Arabic phases of 
Islamic history. 

If one desires a fuller account he may read: The 
Caliphate: Its Rise, Decline and Fall. W. Murr. T. 
Weir, Editor. John Grant, Edinburgh. 1916. 

A later book on the same topic is History of the 
Saracens. SIMon Ocktey. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 
New York. 1926. $2.00. 

2. Mohammedanism. D. S. MarcotioutH. Williams and 
Norgate, London. 1912. Import to order through 
Henry Holt and Co., New York. 

If one desires a somewhat more technical study, he 
may read: Development of Muslim Theology, Juris- 
prudence, and Constitutional Theory. D. B. Mac- 
DONALD. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. $1.50. 

3. Mohammed. Epitn M. Horrtanp. (Heroes of All 
Time) F. A. Stokes Co., New York. Out of print. 
Or, Mohammed and the Rise of Islam. D.S. Marcott- 
ouTH. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York. $2.50. 


ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM 79 


4. The Moslem Faces the Future. T. H. P. Satter. Mis- 
sionary Education Movement, New York. 1926. Cloth, 

$1.00; paper, 60 cents. (3 copies.) 

5. Lhe Moslem World of To-day. JoHN R. Mort, Editor. 
George H. Doran Co., New York. 1925. $2.50. 

6. The Arab at Home. Paut W. Harrison. Thomas Y. 
Crowell Co., New York. 1924. $3.50. 

7. Moslem Women. A. E. and S. M. Zwemer. The Cen- 
tral Committee on the United Study of Foreign Mis- 
sions, West Medford, Mass. 1926. Cloth, 75 cents; 
paper, 50 cents. (3 copies.) 


We pause here for a moment. These seven books 
might be considered an irreducible minimum for the 
Director and a few other participants in the program. 
If the entire book, in each case, cannot be read, it 
would be well to read attractive portions in each. The 
reader could get a fair idea of Islam from these books 
alone. Book number 4 is intended to be in itself an 
introduction to the study of the Moslem World, and 
serves the purpose very well. If one be reduced to an 
extremity, he might depend upon Numbers 3, 4, 5, and 
6 and feel well introduced to the vast subject. 


8. The Koran. Tr. by J. M. Ropwett, (Everyman’s 
Library.) E. P. Dutton and Co., New York. 80 
cents. 

9. The Faith of Islam. Epwarp Seti. Society for Pro- 
moting Christian Knowledge, London. 1907. 

10. The Mystics of Islam. R. A. NicHotson. (Quest 
Series.) Harcourt, Brace and Co., New York. $1.25. 

11. Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians. E. W. 
Lane. (Everyman’s Library.) E. P. Dutton and Co., 
New York. 


80 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


12. Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah and 
Meccah. R. F. Burton. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New 
York. Out of print. 

13. Islam at the Cross Roads. D. E. O’Leary. K. Paul, 
London. 1923. 6 shillings. 

14. Aspects of Islam. D. B. MacponaLtp. Macmillan Co., 
New York. 1911. $1.75. 

15. Arabic Thought and Its Place im History. D. E. 

O’Leary. E. P. Dutton Co., New York. 1924. $5.00. 


In addition to these volumes, the following inexpen- 
sive books would be very useful. 


Of the following books all but the last are published or im- 
ported by the Missionary Education Movement and should 
be ordered through denominational headquarters. 

Young Islam on Trek. Bast Matuews. 1926. Cloth, 
$1.00; paper, 60 cents. 

Shepard of Aintab. Atice S. Riccs. 1920. Cloth, $1.00; 
paper, 75 cents. 

The Near East: Crossroads of the World. Wiutt1am H. 
Hatt. 1920. Cloth, 75 cents; paper, 50 cents. 

The Rebuke of Islam. W.H. T. GAtrpNER. United Council 
for Missionary Education, London. 1920. 60 cents. 
The Moslem World in Revolution. W. Witson CAsH. 
Edinburgh House Press, London. 1925. 80 cents. 
The Faith of the Crescent. JoHN Taxte. Order through 

Association Press, New York. 


The entire cost of the list of fifteen, together with 
the additions just mentioned, would be under fifty dol- 
lars. If it be thought best, several of the books named 
in the list of fifteen, say numbers 12-15, could be 
omitted for the sake of including the additional books, 


ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM 81 


or for the sake of including in the library a few copies 
of works of fiction (see below). 

It is very likely that many people of the parish 
would read fiction when not attracted by so-called study 
books. ‘This would enroll them, nevertheless, in the 
program. It might be worth while to procure some of 
the following books: 


The Arabian Nights. Tr. by E. W. Lane. Stanley Lane- 
Poole, Editor. (Bohn’s Popular Library.) Harcourt 
Brace and Co., New York. 1925. 85 cents. 

Haji Baba of Ispahan, Adventures of. J. J. Morter. (The 
World’s Classics.) Oxford University Press, New 
York. 1923. 80 cents. 

Stamboul Nights. H. G. Dwicut. Doubleday Page and 
Co., Garden City, N. Y. $2.00. 

The Shirt of Flame. Hatipan Epis. Duffield and Co., New 
York. 1925. $2.50. 

Haremlik: Some Pages from the Life of Turkish Women. 
DemitrA VAKA. In collaboration with K. Kenneth- 
Brown. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 1912. $2.00. 

Disenchanted. Pr1errRE Lott. Macmillan Co., New York. 
1925. $2.00. 

Greenmantle. J. BucHan. George H. Doran Co., New 
York. 1916. $2.50. 

Hira Singh. T. Munpy. A. L. Burt Co., New York. 1917. 
75 cents. 

Masoud the Bedouin. AtrrepA P. CarHart. Missionary 
Education Movement, New York. 1915. $1.50. 

The Lure of Islam. C. M. Prowse. Sampson Low, London. 

Alien Souls. A. AppuLLAH. James A, McCann Co., New 
York. $1.75. Order through Miss Jean Wick, 59 
Washington Square, New York City. 


If a public library is situated within reach, the 
church might arrange to procure many books on loan, 


82 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


or at least arrange for a reserve shelf in the library 
during the time of the missionary program. 

The reference library requires the attention of a 
special librarian who will devote himself to the circula- 
tion and use of the books. He should know in a gen- 
eral way what are the contents of the books, should 
see that they are available when wanted by particular 
workers whose needs he knows, and should suggest to 
various persons books in which they might have some 
special interest. All these details a competent librarian 
could work out for himself, including the cataloging 
of the books and the record of loans and returns. 
What a valuable office this might be, both for the 
librarian himself and for those whom he serves! 


‘THE PROGRAM 


We have in mind here certain principles which 
should inhere in and dominate the organization of the 
program. Of fundamental importance is the principle 
of integration. The missionary educational work 
should be an integral part of the whole educational 
program, a part of the one curriculum; not a “parallel” 
series of studies and activities, nor an “optional” 
series, nor a miscellaneous lot of “extras” thrust now 
and then into the general program. Nothing less than 
integration gives missions the place they deserve in 
parish consideration. If missions are “extra,” the 
policy serves to engender an attitude of antagonism. 
The “monthly missionary program,” the occasional 
missionary address, the optional course in missions, 
even the annual mission study class have inevitably 
seemed to some to be intrusions and not really a part 


ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM — 83 


of the regular scheme of things. And even with these 
features missions have occupied only a comparatively 
small place in parish work. 

The general attitude may be seen in several recent 
books on religious education, in which very scant at- 
tention has been paid to missions and missionary edu- 
cation. In the view of this book and its philosophy of 
religious education this is as serious a fault as an at- 
tempt to understand China through her five hundred 
thousand Protestants, while at the same time the rest 
of the four hundred millions of Chinese are disre- 
garded. We who study religion within too narrow 
limits are under a severe handicap. Even our rich 
Christian heritage does not furnish us altogether suffi- 
cient materials for a full comprehension of the broad 
field of religion. We Christians cannot ignore the 
rest of the world, whether we consider our own good 
or the good of others, and especially if we realize that 
we have a saving gospel for the non-Christian world. 
Let us be persuaded that “religious education” falls 
significantly short of the highest goal if “missionary 
education” is not part and parcel of it. 

In the foregoing paragraph we set out to say one 
thing, and said two; namely, that missionary education 
should be integrated with the general program, and 
that religious education is at best imperfect if it has 
not included missionary education. The two should 
be in reality one. This mind should be in both kinds 
of educationists, and then the local curriculum would 
serve the highest ends of education in religion. 

How may the integration at which we aim be ac- 
complished under the present circumstances? We may 
suggest first of all a very concrete and definite way; 


84 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


namely, the use of missionary educational materials in 
direct connection with the weekly Church School les- 
sons. It is the method of correlated lesson materials. 
The author’s China in the Local Parish, pages 16-33, 
contains references to a full set of Chinese materials 
for use in connection with the International Graded 
series of lessons. Teachers could work out a similar 
program with reference to any field of mission study. 

We may here explain what we mean by the method 
of correlation. Assume for the moment that the topic 
for the missionary program is the Moslem World. 
Take, for example, a lesson on the Crucifixion. Dur- 
ing the discussion of the lesson the teacher may refer 
to the fact of the Crucifixion as a stumbling block to 
Moslems, a doctrine which is difficult for them to be- 
lieve. The Koran says, “Yet they (i.e., the Jews) 
slew him (Jesus) not, and they crucified him not, but 
they had only his likeness.” Mohammed taught that 
God would not suffer the sinless Jesus to be slain, and 
sent a likeness of him to suffer on the Cross. In mis- 
sionary work among Moslems the story of the Cruci- 
fixion is not to be used in the approach to them. 
Rather, the approach is on the ground of Jesus’ won- 
derful character and life. Interesting, isn’t it? 

It is profitable as well as interesting for us to think 
over some of the real problems which our representa- 
tives abroad face as they strive to win the Moslems 
to a better way. Take another example. If the class 
is studying the Temple and temple worship, how ap- 
propriate it would be to compare the Kaaba of Mecca, 
the Moslem’s sacred shrine, and to discuss aspects of 
Moslem worship. Or, again, suppose the lesson has 
to do with the evils of drink. There lie at one’s dis- 


ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM — 85 


posal some very interesting materials on the Moslem’s 
attitude in the matter. The Koran prohibits intoxi- 
cants, their sale and consumption. Ideally speaking, 
Islam is a great prohibition society. Or, take a les- 
son on loyalty to God. What an unusual opportunity 
there is to emphasize the cardinal doctrine of Islam, 
that “there is no God but Allah!” These illustrations 
will suffice to show what is meant by correlation. 

Biblical materials and Islamic lie very close together, 
and references to things Islamic seem very much in 
order in studies of the Hebrews and early Christians. 
They are appropriate for a study of later times as 
well, even the present day. Each week some glimpse 
into Islam may be taken as the lesson hour proceeds. 
The teacher might arrange for this in the preparation 
of his lesson, and find it very fruitful indeed. If the 
teacher were but to look ahead and get a general view 
of the lessons he has to handle during the time of the 
missionary educational program, and then do his read- 
ing in things Islamic with a pad and pencil at hand, he 
could make note of illustrations, comparisons, and other 
references of value to him in teaching. He would en- 
joy the new way of conducting the course. He would 
not, in reality, be “lugging in” these Moslem materials, 
for it would have been agreed at the outset that all 
teachers were to do this whenever possible and appro- 
priate as one means of conducting the missionary pro- 
gram—as one means, we say. 

This method of correlation may seem to deal with 
somewhat scattered materials which lack any essential 
continuity in themselves. They are, to be sure, scarcely 
more than illustrative and comparative materials, but 
they have, nevertheless, a certain value in themselves. 


86 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


If some cogent references are used each week, the 
cumulative effect of the scattered fragments will be 
significant in the end. But after all, this is only one 
method. It is, however, general enough in its applica- 
tion to help in creating a common mind for the pro- 
gram, and to afford a scheme into which otherwise 
miscellaneous materials may fit harmoniously. An 
opening exercise which includes some Islamic refer- 
ences, an occasional talk on an Islamic theme, a minor 
Islamic project, all seem then to be relative to the 
program. More is to be said later (in Chapter III) 
about various projects which may be used as an integral 
part of the regular religious educational work. 

A second consideration in the organization of the 
program should be the comprehensiveness of its appli- 
cation to the various departments of parish life. While 
the missionary theme is being pursued, it should find a 
place in the thought and work of every phase of the 
parish organization. The ideal is no less than the 
entire parish engaged in the study of Islam, or some 
unitary topic or field, whatever it may be. This would 
include groups of boys and men as well as groups of 
girls and women. The program might even afford 
opportunity for the organization of new units in the 
parish or in the Church School. A class of young 
people might be formed for the study of the great liv- 
ing religions of the world, the course closing with the 
Moslem faith on the eve of the Grand Project. A 
series of public addresses might be given on Sundays 
at another time than a regular service hour for the 
sake of those not being reached in other ways. 

A third consideration for the program as such is 
that of intensive study at certain points. A class or 


ORGANIZATION OF THE PROGRAM — 87 


two in the Church School might elect to devote a 
number of weeks to the missions theme as an agreeable 
change from the regular routine. A “mission study 
class,’ or forum, would surely be included in the pro- 
gram, using one or another of the study books issued 
by the Missionary Education Movement. Some 
churches hold an annual institute, or at least a “School 
of Missions.” ‘The pity is that most churches have 
done little more in missionary education than to hold 
for a few weeks each year a mission study class or an 
institute, a method which has reached only a small 
percentage of the parish population. These features 
are good, but they would be more valuable against the 
general background of study and activity which we 
have sketched above. 

A fourth consideration which applies to the whole 
extent and variety of the work is that the educational 
ideal should dominate. The emphasis should not be so 
much on “missions” and “missionary education,” for 
these terms might repel at first many whom we are 
anxious to enlist; but on the land, the people, their 
habits and customs, and their religion. These things 
must necessarily be of interest to all. The program 
will aim to broaden the horizon of those who enlist 
in it. Something concrete and tangible will issue from 
it for everyone who participates. One person may 
learn something more of history, another may enlarge 
his knowledge of art, a third may find his interests to 
be ethical or philosophical, and so on—and all at work 
under the auspices of the church! 


Ill 
PROJECTS 


N our first chapter we discussed the general prob- 
] lem of missionary education in an effort to find 
out what it is, after all, that we are trying to do 
when we undertake missionary education. In our sec- 
ond chapter we dealt with the organization of the local 
church and parish for purposes of missionary educa- 
tion. In this present chapter we have to do with 
specific missionary educational projects,* by which our 
organization may work out our theory in practise. 

A missionary educational project is a problematic 
act, or a series of problematic acts, with a missionary 
motive, carried out under circumstances reproductive 
of an actual missionary situation. We seek to inter- 
pret the life and mind of non-Christian peoples by do- 
ing things which exhibit with fair accuracy their life © 
and mind. We desire to bring the distant scene into 
the immediate, local consciousness, and to let it make 
its own interpretation. The difficulties in the way do 
not deter us, but only make us more determined and 
more careful when we have come to realize something 
of the great value of our enterprise. 

Activity is at the basis of our effort. By activity 
we mean all sorts of right-purposeful activity. We 
would rally the forces of body, mind, and spirit for our 
purpose, and not the least of these is bodily activity. 
We would have things made by hand, and enlist our 
parishioners in various forms of dramatization. We 
mean, also, mental activity; not, of course, the mere 


1 For China projects see the author’s China in the Local Parish. 
9g f 


PROJECTS 89 


acquisition and memory of information about various 
lands and peoples, but the stirring of all the rational 
processes of the individual. We must think our way, 
if possible, into the minds of other peoples. We must 
direct our thoughts to the problems involved in mis- 
sionary work; we must ask ourselves what to do in 
certain situations; we must discover the principles 
involved in the solution of the problems encountered. 
We should seek earnestly for the inner, spiritual mean- 
ing also, for it is the spirit which giveth life. The 
realities with which we are concerned are ultimately 
spiritual. We must test the spirit—if not the spirits— 
to see if it be of God. In undertaking projects we 
should see that we make the most of them toward the 
development of activity in the persons which our 
projects enlist. Each teacher will attend to this for 
his own class, or each superintendent for his own de- 
partment. 

The activity demanded by the true missionary edu- 
cational project should be carried out under proper 
circumstances. It is an actual missionary situation 
which we would portray. For example, we do not 
choose for an April missionary program on India—as 
some have done—a hymn entitled, “We plow the 
fields,” unless it be understood that this agricultural 
operation in India is performed a couple of months 
later than April. Or, again, we have often discussed 
problems of the “native church”—in our American 
setting. Of course, we cannot rid ourselves of the 
American setting, but we should discuss native church 
problems in their own setting primarily. We have 
considered the problem of India’s political freedom 
within the setting of our own political environment 


90 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


rather than in its total Indian setting. We have looked 
at Chinese villages through Western eyes and failed 
thereby to perceive the Chinese villager’s thought of 
his own village. We read the Koran or the Bhagavad 
Gita in a subjective, Western mood, and miss the dis- 
covery of certain values which those books have. for 
the Moslem or for the Hindu. We have too often ab- 
stracted foreign problems from their own natural 
setting and have sought to solve them in a state of 
isolation. 

If we would understand what this book, at least, 
means by the missionary educational project, we must 
refer to Chapter I. In a word, we must take the origi- 
nal definition of missionary education (page 15) and 
substitute for “interpretation” the word “practise.” 
We have, then, this definition of the project: 

“Our (Christian) practise of the essential character 
—that is, the origins, development, complexity, and 
fruits—of the non-Christian religions, for the sake of 
understanding, appreciation, cooperation, and Chris- 
tianization—of ourselves as well as others.” 

All that was said of “interpretation” may be said of 
the project, or problematic activity. It is fundamental 
to the project that we learn, at least in part, to see 
others as they see themselves. Seeing them as they 
see themselves is in large measure prerequisite to the 
Christianizing process. 


GENERAL PROJECTS 


Before discussing in detail certain major Islamic 
projects, a general list might be submitted in illustra- 
tion of what we mean by the missionary educational 


PROJECTS 91 


project, it being understood that each project is not 
to be considered merely as a thing in itself, but as a 
part of a larger program. Each project represents a 
phase of a larger situation and needs to be presented in 
relation to the whole. In each instance the individual, 
class, or group undertaking the project makes a careful 
and leisurely study of the essential materials involved 
in the project, and is interested not merely in doing 
something, but in doing something accurately and in 
the right spirit. An apparently simple project may 
resolve itself into an elaborate and engaging study and 
open up ultimately a wide portion of the general mis- 
sionary field. An apparently non-religious project 
might lead to considerations of religion. 

For example, a boy or group of boys might set 
about making models of apparatus used in irrigation, 
such as the water-wheels of Japan, China, the Eu- 
phrates, and the Nile, meanwhile studying the gen- 
eral question of the relation of irrigation to fertility 
and life. The religious educational value of such study 
might be realized if the boy or group of boys con- 
sidered at the same time the holy well of Zem Zem in 
Mecca, the Well of Knowledge in Benares, Jacob’s well 
in Sychar, and the general question of sacred springs, 
pools, and rivers. Water has loomed large in the life 
and thought of men, whether for purposes of fertility 
of soil, or for its cleansing and symbolic qualities. A 
cult of water is early and widespread, ranging in its 
development from the worship of water as a power in 
itself, through the worship of water-spirits, on up 
through various ceremonial uses of water to its highest 
ritual and spiritual use in Christian baptism. Jesus 
used the waters of Sychar from which to draw lessons 


92 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


for the Samaritan woman, and we may follow his ex- 
ample with propriety and profit in our search for the 
spiritual meaning of water to mankind, and especially 
for the meaning of Jesus’ words at Sychar and else- 
where, “born of water and the spirit,’ “the water of 
life,” etc. 

The New Testament will be better understood if 
we study it in relation to the whole field of religious 
phenomena. Both Abyssinian Christians and Creek 
Indians have been accustomed to bathe annually in 
order to wash away the sins of the year. A form of 
baptism has been practised by peoples widely separated 
in time and space, by Aztecs, Incas, Babylonians, Poly- 
nesians, Cherokees, and Christians. John the Baptist had 
baptized before Jesus did so. Jesus took the rite and 
elevated it to a place of supreme spiritual significance. 
It behooves us to know just what he meant by it and 
what its value is for the Christian Church today. This 
we may learn by comparison as well as by direct ap- 
peal to Jesus himself. We may say reverently that it 
is not a far cry from water-wheels to baptism. There 
was a ladder set up by Jesus at Jacob’s well, which 
reached to heaven. 

The following is a list of projects, without reference 
to any particular country, people, or religion, and in 
disregard of any logical order. 


1. Worship. Scenes from wayside shrine, temple, or — 
mosque. Involving the necessary physical setting, utensils 
of worship, ritual, and worshipers. 


2. Education. A typical school, say of either the village 
or the specifically religious type, in order to show the very 
rudimentary traditional education of the masses. 


PROJECTS 93 


3. Home Life. Women’s life in the zenana, harem, etc. 
The status of woman shown by monologue or conversation. 


4. Religious or Ethical Doctrine. A discussion between a 
Christian missionary and some non-Christian on some major 
doctrine of religion or ethics, with a group acting as “jury.” 


5. Irade. Scene at a shop. Typical bargaining between 
shopkeeper and prospective customers. Typical wares and 
prices. 


6. Humor. Typical stories of many peoples. Folk tales 
illustrating the common stock of ideas. 


7. Games and Child Life. The games of children of 
various lands studied and exhibited in connection with a 
study of play-life in these lands. 


8. Marriage. Wedding customs and their significance. 
Marriage processions, ceremonies, etc. 


9. The Drama. Study and reading of specimen plays. 
Dramatic performance of scenes from native authors. 


to. A Congress of Religions. Representatives of various 
great religions met to discuss a single theme, such as sin, 
salvation, God. 


11. A Musicale. Specimens of the vocal and instrumental 
music of many peoples, or of a single people; a public re- 
cital, possibly. 


12. Building Construction. Building miniature houses, 
temples, mosques, shops, or other structures, with attention 
not only to exterior but interior (see also No. 16). 


13. Scrap-books. A collection of current photographs from 
newspapers and magazines illustrating aspects of religion, 


94 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


with appropriate descriptions of scenes portrayed. Or a 
book of clippings bearing upon given topics, such as modern 
tendencies in Shintoism, Hinduism, etc. 


14. A Pilgrimage. A study of pilgrims and pilgrim rites 
in various religions, with a comparative view expressed at 
an imaginary meeting-place by pilgrims of various faiths. 
Let them meet at the “New Jerusalem.” 


15. Sand Maps, Charts, etc. Construction of maps, etc., in 
connection with the study of racial types, natural products, 
etc. 


16. Village Construction. A study of typical villages of 
various lands, showing types of architecture, colors, water- 
supply, occupations, etc. 


17. Medical Work. A study of native methods of former 
and of present times, of native views of disease and its cure 
in comparison with the best modern medicine. For example, 
the meeting of a modern doctor and a village practitioner 
at the bedside of a patient. 


18. Museum. A visit to a museum for the study of for- 
eign customs. Or, the rental of “curios” from a mission 
board, provided the curios are accurately labeled! 


19. Correspondence. Imaginary or real letters exchanged 
between pupils in the parish and foreign individuals, written 
on carefully selected topics. 


20. Impersonation. The comments of some Asiatic upon 
an American city, scene, or aspect of American life. A 
Hindu at the Chicago slaughter-houses; a desert Arab at his 
first “movie”; an Oriental’s impression of coeducation; 
sh eaey To us 


PROJECTS 95 


21. Studies in Literature. Readings from poetry or prose 
to discover some major literary themes and the style used. 
Readings to the class or other group, with comment. 


22. Story-telling. In appropriate costume. A special oc- 
casion, it may be. Creation stories. Stories of the Judgment. 


23. Food. The study of foods of various peoples. The 
making and serving of some of these dishes as “refresh- 
ments’ at a social function. Food taboos. Sacred animals. 


These are the items which most immediately come to 
mind. They represent the range of common life and 
afford opportunity for a study of similarities and 
differences prevailing among the many peoples of the 
earth. It is a suggestive and not an exhaustive list. In 
actual practise other projects will suggest themselves. 

Each of the projects suggested requires considerable 
attention for its proper execution. This is part of its 
purpose as an educational venture. Printed sources 
should be available,” and the presence of someone with 
first-hand information and experience would be most 
helpful, although not indispensable. Different churches 
could undertake different projects, according to their 
available resources and experience. There are thou- 
sands of churches in America that could undertake 
from year to year any one or all of the projects listed 
above. It is often merely the question of a leader and 
the actual beginning. Once a group or a congregation 
has learned the technique, it will make use of projects 
freely and without further hesitation. There is no 
sounder educational method, whatever the size of the 
church. 


2The author will be glad to furnish references for any par- 
ticular project. 


96 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


We present now, with introductory remarks, several 
specifically Moslem projects. 


MosquE PRojEcT 


Worship. Prayer was for Mohammed a “pillar of 
religion,” a “key to Paradise.’”’ It is the second of the 
five foundations of Islamic practise. These five 
foundations are: 

1. The belief and unhesitating profession that 
“there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is the 
apostle of Allah.” 

2. Prayer, or more specifically, five periods of 
prayer daily. 

3. The annual fast during the month of Ramadan. 

4. The giving of the legal alms. 

5. The performance of the pilgrimage to Mecca by 
all who have both sufficient means for the journey and 
for maintaining their families at home during their 
absence. 

Prayer was for Mohammed more a matter of time 
and place and ceremonial obligation than an attitude 
of mind. It wasa service. At least that was the note 
which the Moslem community caught from him. A> 
little better can be said of the Prophet himself, espe- 
cially with reference to those moods of his in which 
he sought communion with his God. Prayer was a 
means to communion. His own religious experience — 
was rich at times. He was a mystic of a sort. But 
prayer in Islam has been consistently, for the most 
part, a ritualistic practise. Mohammed learned very 
early the need and value of ceremony, and instituted 
many forms of worship. 





DR. WATSON L. PHILLIPS, PASTOR EMERITUS OF THE CHURCH OF THE 
REDEEMER, NEW HAVEN, CONN., IN THE ROLE OF 
MOHAMMED IN “KERBALA’”’ 


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pIoM 94} JO suorj jeder ore yore jeIJUDD 9Yy} sAOqY ‘eIPUy WorZ syulid u0}09 o1e JpIs JayyTe 
ye soinSy osenbs oyy *Asjsoede} ystyiny, ewospuey pue plo ue suny st AeMYoIe [eI}UID 94} UT 


A€VMAVI-IV dIfSvVNW AHL 





PROJECTS 97 


The first mosque to figure at all in the Moslem com- 
munity was established at Medina after Mohammed 
and his few followers had “fled” thither from Mecca 
in 622 A.D. It was a converted date barn. The floor 
was uneven and the roof leaky, and during the rainy 
season worship was conducted in it at some incon- 
venience. Mohammed is known to have advised the 
worshipers to bring sand with them to dry up the mud 
spots. 

Prayers were instituted in Medina. Five times 
daily were the faithful called to prayer: between dawn 
and sunrise, at noon when the sun had passed the 
zenith, mid-afternoon, evening-time just after sunset, 
and when the night had closed in. These are still the 
specified times to be kept with precision. Mohammed 
once remarked, “My worst fear is that my nation will 
delay prayer till after the appointed time.” He often 
said, “God has promised that he will cause him to 
enter Paradise who performs the five prayers that God 
has prescribed for his servants.” 

At first it was a question as to how the faithful 
should be summoned to prayer—by what means. The 
conch-shell was declined because of its pagan char- 
acter. The trumpet was possible, but it was an in- 
strument of the Moslems’ Jewish enemies. Bells rang 
out from Christian churches and monasteries. Islam 
was a new faith, and a new way, at last, and a novel 
way was decided upon for the call to prayer—the hu- 
man voice. Among the Moslems of Medina was a 
strong-voiced African, named Bilal, who has the honor 
of having been the first muezzin. There was then no 
minaret for him to mount. He called from the roof 
of the improvised mosque. The faithful were then all 


98 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


within hearing of his summons and most of them were 
able to gather at the mosque for congregational wor- 
ship. Since the days of Bilal muezzins have had 
minarets to climb, from whose balconies their voices 
have carried out over larger communities. The cry 
at first was merely: “Allah is great! Come to prayer!” 
Since then it has been: 


Allah is great. There is no God but Allah. 
Mohammed is Allah’s apostle. 

Come to prayer. Come to works. 

Allah is great. There is no God but Allah. 


Prayer in Medina had not only religious value but 
a certain martial value as well. The postures which 
were used were good, so Mohammed thought, for 
physical exercise and for military drill. Early connec- 
tion was thus made in Islam between religion and war- 
fare—we do not say this here as harping upon the 
somewhat mistaken notion that Islam is exclusively a 
“religion of the sword.”” Mohammed and the Moslem 
community were now and then in certain straits. The 
food supply was low at times, and rich Meccan cara- 
vans often passed along the Syrian routes. Then, too, 
Mohammed came to realize that Islam was not firmly 
established until Mecca itself was secured for the faith, 
and he prepared to wage war, if necessary, to that end. 
Mecca was to be won by the sword in an extremity, but 
at any rate by religion. In the end Mecca capitulated 
to religion with almost no shedding of blood or loss of 
life. In all the campaigns prayer-times were observed. 
Mohammed recognized the effect of prayer upon the 
minds of his soldiers, as did Cromwell at a later date 
in his struggles with the English Crown. And Mo- 


PROJECTS 99 


hammed’s foes were known to hesitate in the face of 
his praying army. Allah, they feared, was more 
powerful than their own gods, and the odds were 
against them. 

For purposes of prayer there were certain pre- 
requisites. The body and the clothes of the worshiper 
should be clean, and the place of prayer should be free 
from all impurity. Prayer is always preceded by 
ablution, usually performed with water, but in cases 
of extremity, as out in the waterless desert at a time 
of prayer, Allah takes the will for the deed. 

In all this the ceremonial is immediately apparent, 
but it would be too much to say that the ethical is en- 
tirely lacking. A mosque service is not mere form. 
There is in it an inner moral and spiritual meaning 
which the sincere worshiper may find to his good. We 
cannot dismiss strange symbolism as empty show. We 
might even find for ourselves something in it signif- 
icant for religion. There is no doubting, however, the 
tremendous power of Islamic ritual. It is a social and 
religious force which we Protestants especially should 
seek to understand. 

Aside from the prayers at stated times, Mohammed 
commended prayer at various times; for example, in 
connection with trade, in times of danger, on behalf 
of one’s parents or of believing guests, on the part of 
a father for his children, in times of sickness, and for 
the sake of repentance and guidance. It is easier to 
see the ethical here, although it is not lacking else- 
where. We would make the point, however, that in 
any religion in which the ritualistic is highly em- 
phasized there is a tendency, often realized, to under- 
emphasize morality. Worship itself is to the ritualist 


100 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


of more value than purity of heart, and the personal 
character of the priest of the ritual order is not neces- 
sarily involved in the exercise of the priestly office. 
It is the office which counts. There is no priesthood 
in Islam, but ritual is highly emphasized, and Islam 
suffers from a certain lack of outspoken moral em- 
phasis. At least, Islamic history bears witness to this 
fact. Be it said, however, to the credit of many Mos- 
lems today that morality and things of the spirit have 
a high place in their faith as they advance its claims to 
the allegiance of modern men. They try to set forth 
the best they have, and we must put ourselves in a 
position to consider it. 

Let us turn at last to the matter of the specific 
mosque project. If any further preliminary word 
should be added to the statement on prayer which we 
have just made, it would be that prayers may be said 
privately, or in a company, or in a mosque, although 
prayers observed in a mosque are the most meritorious. 
We have chosen public prayer for our project, and pro- 
pose a service which requires about twenty minutes to 
reproduce. Our aim is not to show the variations, in- 
tricacies, and length of a Moslem public prayer serv- 
ice, but to exhibit something typical and its significance. 
There is variation, of course, in Moslem practise, but 
we can offer here a simple service which is quite in 
keeping with the characteristic actual situation, such a 
service as one might see, for example, were he per- 
mitted to attend it, in the average jama’ masjid, or 
mosque of assembly, on Fridays. 


The setting. For ordinary purposes nothing 
elaborate is needed; in fact, little more than imagina- 


PROJECTS 101 


tion. Prayers are conducted in an open court. Rugs 
or mats may be used, or the worshipers may spread 
their outer garments instead. Water should be handy, 
a fountain, pool, or vessel, for the ablutions—not 
actual water, of course. The pulpit is easily arranged, 
a simple set of three steps with room enough on the 
top step for the zmam, or leader, to seat himself cross- 
legged or to stand. If the service is to take place as 
part of the Grand Project (see Chapter IV), an ap- 
propriate setting for it will be arranged in the general 
plan, something representative of an actual mosque 
court. It must be borne in mind, however, that Islam 
is austere. In the main body of Islam there are no 
showy shrines, no images, no ornamentation other than 
plain colors and inscriptions, mostly Koranic quota- 
tions. 


Costumes. If the service is to be carried out in 
costume, that also is a simple matter. Costumes may 
be rented, or made.* Costumes should be used in con- 
nection with the Grand Project, whether they are used 
on other occasions or not. They are indispensable for 
the sake of atmosphere, and for the proper state of 
mind on the part of the participants. In this too much 
should not be left to the imagination, The fullest 
possible equipment is essential to a serious considera- 
tion of the theme and a serious carrying out of the 
project. Costumes themselves are symbolic and 
significant, and should be used—but with great care, 
of course, for the sake of accuracy. 


Mental attitude. Any group of men and boys may 
be chosen for the project who will in due time put 
8 Consult your Mission Board about them. 


102 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


themselves in the proper frame of mind toward it. 
Several earnest men might be included in the group 
for the sake of their immediate influence. It is the 
purpose of the project to convey to the participants 
something of the inner significance of the Moslem 
prayer service and to exhibit something of this signif- 
icance to whatever audience the group may have at- 
tending its demonstration. If the service is to be 
performed on a public occasion, the audience should be 
appealed to beforehand in behalf of the true char- 
acter of the demonstration. It should be remembered 
that a service is being attempted which is sacred to 
millions of Moslem men. ‘The true motive of the 
project should be understood by all, and all should act 
accordingly. Applause even may be out of order. 
Certainly were we permitted to attend a real Moslem 
service in a real mosque, we should not applaud at its 
conclusion. It is not a show, a spectacle; it is Moslem 
worship before God. 

We have had set before us a preliminary statement 
on Moslem prayer, parts of which statement might be 
used at the time of the demonstration in order to in- 
troduce it. We have had the setting of prayer de- 
scribed, and have been reminded of the frame of mind 
essential to the project as a real religious educational 
venture. Now for the actual service itself. 


The Call to Prayer. The call to prayer (the adhdan, 
or azn) may be given by the muezzin after the man- 
ner indicated in Lane’s Manners and Customs of the 
Modern Egyptians, pages 382-383.* During the call 


This book will be referred to many times throughout this 
chapter as “Lane,” the full title being omitted. 


PROJECTS 103 


the worshipers approach the mosque and enter the 
outer entrance. At the inner entrance they pause and 
remove their shoes. (Only in exceptional mosques 
are shoes retained today.) The shoes are carried to a 
place designated for shoes at one side of the court. 
(Were they left outside, they might be carried off.) 
Outer coats, if such are worn, and turbans (usually, 
though not always) may be removed and deposited 
beside the respective places where the worshipers will 
eventually engage in prayer. 


Ablutions. Each worshiper then repairs to the place 
of ablution. This may be an imitation fountain or 
pool, made with strips of wood for framework, or 
merely a water-vessel (see Lane, pp. 146-147)—or 
several vessels if many worshipers are to take part in 
the service. Each man may “pour” for another, until 
all have ended their ceremonial washing. 

Each man tucks up his sleeves (he does not roll 
them) above his elbows, saying as he does so, “I am 
going to purify myself from bodily uncleanness in 
preparation for prayer, to draw my soul near to the 
Most High.” It might be well to have one or two 
among the first arrivals at the place of ablution speak 
loud enough for the audience to hear. The others as 
they come one by one may merely mutter the declara- 
tion to themselves. Each man, after the original 
declaration, washes his hands three times, saying 
meanwhile, “O God, examine my accounts with 
favor.’ He rinses his mouth three times, each time 
throwing water into it with the right hand. Next he 
snuffs water up his nostrils from the right hand. 
Then he washes his face, then the right hand and fore- 


104 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


arm, then the left hand and forearm. After that, he 
washes his neck, drying the one side with the back of 
one hand and the other side with the back of the other 
hand. Last of all he washes his feet up to the ankles. 
The bather who speaks loud enough for the audience 
to hear him should, of course, speak after the call to 
prayer has ceased, or he will not be heard, and the 
audience will miss an important part of the service. 


Reading from the Koran. While the men are 
gathering at their places after performing their ablu- 
tions as described above, a Reader seated (he may 
come in from another entrance than that used by the 
worshipers) toward the front of the mosque court and 
facing the incoming men, may read extracts from the 
Koran for their benefit as they seat themselves (the 
number of literate Moslems is comparatively small). 
His book may rest before him upon a Koran-stand 
(rahil) which he has taken up from the side of the 
mosque court and placed where he wishes to use it. 
He sits cross-legged as he reads. Each man as he sits 
down at his own place listens attentively to the read- 
ing. Portions of suras 87, 81, and 52 might be read. 


The role of Imam. ‘The reading is at last inter- 
rupted by the entrance of the Imam, or leader of 
prayer, from a side room off the mosque court (he 
wears no shoes, of course). He goes to the pulpit and 
sits upon it for a moment of quiet meditation. He 
then rises and delivers the weekly sermon (the khutba). 
Mohammed remarked once that “the length of a man’s 
prayers and the shortness of his sermon are signs of 
his sense and understanding.” The following sermon 
may be used: 


PROJECTS 105 


In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful. 
Praised be God. Praised be that God who hath shown us 
the way in this religion. If he had not guided us into the 
path, we should not have found it. 

I bear witness that there is no God but God. He is one. 
He has no associate. I bear witness that of a truth Mo- 
hammed is his servant and his apostle. May God have 
mercy upon him, and upon his descendants, and upon his 
companions, and give them peace. 

Fear God, O ye people, and fear that day, the day of 
judgment, when a father will not be able to answer for his 
son, nor the son for his ‘father. Of a truth God’s promises 
are true. Let not this present life make you proud. Let 
not Satan, the deceiver, lead you astray. 

O ye people who have believed, turn ye to God. Verily, 
God doth forgive sin, verily he, the forgiver of sins, is 
merciful. Praised be God. We praise him. We seek help 
from him. We trust in him. We ask forgiveness of sins. 
We seek refuge in him from evil desires and from former 
sinful actions. 

O ye people, remember the great and exalted Lord. He 
will also remember you. He will answer your prayers. The 
remembrance of God is great, and good, and honorable, and 
meritorious, and worthy, and sublime. | 


The Imam (or he may be a khateeb, or preacher) 
may read a prayer also. For specimens see the Inter- 
national Review of Missions, April, 1926. We quote 
here a prayer which tradition says Mohammed gave for 
the use of anyone undertaking a new work: 


O Lord, I supplicate Thy good assistance in Thy great 
wisdom; I pray for ability to discern and obtain what is 
good, through the means of Thy power. ...O Lord, if 
Thou knowest that the matter which I am about to under- 


106 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


take is good for my religion, my life, and my futurity, then 
make it easy for me, and give me prosperity in it; and if 
Thou knowest that it is bad for my religion, my life, and 
my end, then put it far from me, and show me good, what- 
ever it may be. 


This is, however, a prayer for private use, and not 
for mosque worship. 

At the end of the sermon the muezzin enters, or 
rises if he has already come in during the sermon, 
and recites in ordinary tone of voice the call to prayer, 
adding to it the phrase, “Qad qamat as-salah!’ (Now 
comes prayer!) The Imam takes his place in front, 
standing and facing the prayer-direction (Mecca), and 
all arrange themselves standing in their chosen places 
and facing with him, each with his right hand gripping 
his left wrist. The Imam recites, as they stand, the 
Fattha,’ or “Opener’’ of the Koran, as follows: 


Praise be to God, Lord of the worlds, 
The compassionate, the merciful, 
King on the day of reckoning. 
Thee only do we worship, 
And to Thee do we cry for help. 
Guide Thou us in the right path, 
The path of those to whom Thou hast been gracious, 
With whom Thou art not angry, 
And who go not astray. 


At the conclusion of the chapter he says, “Allahu 
akbar!” (God is great!) and all repeat the words after 


5 Sura I, as it is in the Arabic Koran. In Rodwell’s translation 
it is Sura 8. Rodwell’s translation is based upon a reconstruction 
of the Koran which attempts to arrange the parts in chronological 
order, the order in which the parts were revealed to the Prophet 
Mohammed. 





MOHAMMED AND HIS GRANDSONS, HASAN AND HUSSEIN 





AN ARAB VILLAGE SCHOOL 


PROJECTS 107 


him. Then following the example of the leader, all 
place their hands upon their knees, and say after the 
leader, “Subhana rabiya al-adhim,’ or in English, 
“Glory be to the great Lord.” Then all say after the 
Imam, “Semia Allahu liman hamida,”’ or in English, 
“Allah hears those who praise him.” 

Thereafter come the other postures of prayer, punc- 
tuated now and then with the expression, “Allahu 
akbar!” For the postures, see Lane, pages 78-79. 
When kneeling, the instep touches the floor. 

The service ends with the worshipers at ease on 
their haunches. The leader says, after a moment of 
silence, “Salam alaykum wa rahmat ullah,”’ (Peace be 
upon you, and the mercy of God). At this the wor- 
shipers rise, resume their coats and turbans, pick up 
their shoes, and go out. 


EDUCATION PROJECT 


We may turn next to a project in Moslem education. 
It, also, calls for a preliminary statement on the ques- 
tion as a whole. 

Moslem education is not an easy subject to handle 
fairly, especially when the attempt is made in a few 
pages, but since this book is intended as a source-book, 
a minimum treatment of every phase of our project 
material must be given in each instance, whether with 
regard to the method or the content of the project. 

The specific project in education might be worked 
out somewhat as follows. Let us call it an Arab vil- 
lage school, a “kuttab,’ as it is known in Egypt and 
elsewhere. With it we may combine phases of the 
more strictly “mosque school,” for we desire to illus- 


108 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


trate both religious and secular education of the 
primary grade. The language used will be the Arabic 
(is it needless to say that the accent in the words 
“Arab” and “Arabic” is on the first syllable ‘“Ar’’?), - 
whose pronunciation may be mastered with sufficient 
accuracy by means of a key. The pronunciation must 
ignore, of course, colloquial differences prevailing in 
different regions. We have similar differences in 
English pronunciation throughout the English-speak- 
ing world. Ordinarily the Arabs call a dog “kelb,” 
but some call it “chelb.” Pure colloquialisms are 
numerous, but our project does not necessarily involve 
any close consideration of them. 

It is well to know, however, that Arabic is a living 
language, very flexible, and subject to both use and 
abuse, as is any other tongue. It is both interesting 
and profitable to include some of the Arabic language 
in the project. It is of no little interest to our chil- 
dren to learn that Arabic is written in a way which 
to them is “backwards.” It gives them a new appre- 
ciation of language to know this. It widens their gen- 
eral horizon. They are eager to try the writing itself. 
It is an obvious aid to their understanding the school 
life of Arab children. And who knows but that some 
child may get through the project an abiding interest 
in things Arabic and Moslem? One child engaged in 
such a project asked why she was being taught merely 
the alphabet when she would like to be able to write 
letters in Arabic to children “over there.” 

Arabic is a beautiful, graceful script. It is used 
freely for decorative purposes. Within the range of 
Sunni Islam (the main body of Moslems) the use of 
“likenesses” is prohibited, and so no Sunni mosque 


PROJECTS 109 


may have figures of flowers, animals, fishes, and the 
like for decoration or any other use. Arabic script is 
used instead. Mosque arches, corridors, minarets, and 
domes have Koranic quotations freely applied to them, 
sometimes chiseled, sometimes painted, and often 
worked in mosaic. The strict Moslem is determined 
to have no symbol or suggestion to detract from the 
worship of Allah, the one God, without likeness or 
associate. 

A novice can master without too much effort suffi- 
cient Arabic for purposes of the project. The “mas- 
ter” shown in the illustration of the school (page 107) 
knew no Arabic at all to begin with, and yet he di- 
rected the project with great success. The script is not 
difficult to write if one practises a bit with freehand 
movements. The master, of course, always has at his 
hand transliterations in the Roman character for his 
guidance in the conduct of the “school.” 

The school is held in the mosque court. The equip- 
ment includes a blackboard, a bench and a rod for the 
‘teacher, mats for the floor, several Koran-stands, 
wooden or tin slates, several boxes belonging to better- 
class pupils, a school bag for each pupil, in which are 
pencils, pen, inkwell, writing-paper, books, and, per- 
haps, some parched corn (pop-corn), or salted pistachio 
nuts—although the pupil may have the corn, or nuts, 
or a chunk of bread tied up in a corner of his coat or 
sash-belt. In the illustration referred to may be seen 
several reading-stands, a pencil-box, a slate, etc. The 
reading-stand is made of two boards put together in 
“X” fashion, with the two lower ends carved into legs. 
The stand folds shut in “I” fashion. 

Some indication as to costumes is given in the illus- 


110 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


tration. In the school shown all the students are 
“boys.” Some of the girls who impersonated some of 
the “boys” might as well have been girls, had there 
been appropriate costumes; although, having all boys 
conveys the proper impression that education even yet 
is mostly for the males. (It must be kept in mind and 
properly explained that the project is not meant to set 
forth a comprehensive view of education in Islam, and 
that it ignores higher education, technical education, 
the education of women, etc., as carried cut in many 
Moslem centers today. ) 

It might be best to describe the actual presentation 
of the school scene in terms of its place in the Grand 
Project. In that way we can get all the details before 
us. 

Preceding the performance of the project, a state- 
ment may be made with reference to Moslem education 
in general, and to this project in particular. At the 
time there will be in the “schoolroom” the blackboard, 
the bench, the rod, rug or rugs, several rahils or read- 
ing-stands, and a couple of boxes belonging to better- 
class students. The schoolmaster (sheikh,° we may call 
him) is in a room off the “schoolroom” (the mosque 
court). After the introductory remarks by the Direc- 
tor, the curtain may be drawn disclosing the mosque 
court with its furnishings as just described. 

The pupils assemble slowly and irregularly. Each 
brings his school-bag slung over his shoulder (just a 
common cloth bag with a shoulder strap), containing 
pencils, crayons, pen-holder and pens, inkwell, ink 
powder (to be stirred with water), copy-book, writing- 
paper with indented lines, a book or two, and, perhaps, 

8 This name is not pronounced “sheek,” but “shaykh.” 


PROJECTS 111 


some parched corn, or salted pistachio nuts in the shell 
(if these edibles are not tied up in his clothing).‘ Two 
pupils may bring presents for the sheikh, say an orange 
or a pomegranate or some tobacco, which they beg 
leave to give him after he has entered the room. The 
sheikh will receive the presents more or less casually, 
with a brief “Thank you” (“Mamnun,” or “Katiar 
khayrak’’). Two pupils may bring notes from home 
testifying that their conduct has been good of late. On 
receipt of the notes and after reading them (to him- 
self—or aloud to the audience), he may inform the 
audience of their import, and give the two boys some 
appropriate recognition by a word or two, such as, 
“Very good” (“Tayyib,” or “gayn”’), or “Good fel- 
low” (“Jada’ tayyib”’). So much for what the pupils 
bring with them. 

Each student removes his shoes before entering the 
schoolroom and places them at the edge of the mat. If 
two or three of the boys have boxes in the room, in 
which they keep some of their school things, they will 
unlock their boxes and arrange the things—with what- 
ever they bring from home—at their places on the 
floor. Each pupil, as he enters, disregards all others, 
save for some casual greeting such as, for example, 
Sabah ul-khayr! (“Good morning’’) and then he ar- 
ranges his things. He gets his slate from his box 
or from the side of the room—from a nail, it may be, 
on which it hangs over night. The slate is made of 
wood and painted white, requiring black chalk, or it is 
made of tin. A minimum size for the slate may be six 
by eight inches, with a handle at the top, all being 
cut out from the one piece of wood or tin. He 


7For properties see under “Exhibits,” pp. 147-148. 


112 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


gets his reading-stand, also, if he has one, from his 
box, or from the side of the room. He then seats 
himself cross-legged on his mat, or at his place on the 
floor, and begins his “review” (muthakdra, remem- 
bering). 

The review is well under way before the sheikh ap- 
pears. Each pupil is at his own particular task, rocking 
back and forth and reviewing aloud. Some are doing 
their letters (see pages 115-120 for various appropriate 
materials which, of course, have been mastered by the 
boys before the final presentation of the project), some 
are working at their numbers, some are committing 
to memory a few of the Ninety-Nine Names of Allah, 
some are reading from Korans on the stands before 
them. All now and then cast furtive glances at the 
doorway in expectation of the sheikh’s entrance, and 
on his appearance they all apply themselves with greater 
vigor and more volume to the review. There is fear 
of the teacher and great respect for him on the part 
of primary pupils. It has too often been the case, 
however, that teachers of these lower schools have not 
been altogether worthy of respect, either for their 
learning or their morals. The most important aspect 
of the Moslem educational problem is still that of 
primary common school education. Efforts now being 
made in Egypt, Turkey, and elsewhere in the direction 
of mass education are worthy of our attention and of 
whatever aid we may afford them. 

On entering, the sheikh scrutinizes the pupils and 
the work going on, and he may encourage a boy or two 
with the rod. He then seats himself on a chair or 
bench at the head of the room and reads to himself 
a while, the children going on with their review. Soon 


PROJECTS 113 


he taps a bell, and bids them all “Be quiet.” At this 
point the presents and the notes may be offered to the 
_ teacher. | 

Then follows a scene characteristic of the school ses- 
sion, not too long drawn out to be of interest to the 
audience, and yet casual enough to be typical. The 
number class is called and lines up before the master 
to recite orally and by the board. Another group ap- 
pears next and goes through the alphabet. The master 
may summon each group by calling individual names. 
Several pupils might be called upon to recite names 
of Allah. The whole school might engage in the 
chanting of the Koran (the Fatiha, or “opening” chap- 
ter [see Lane, page 383]), sitting cross-legged and 
swaying with the music. 

After this period of recitation on previous lessons, 
the master will announce new lessons, writing some 
materials on the board, some on slates and copy-books, 
especially for several pupils whose eyes are “weak,” 
and making sure that all can write and pronounce cor- 
rectly the new words and expressions. The teacher 
will draw lots and call upon two boys to recite from 
the Koran (they may recite in English certain verses 
which they have memorized). The teacher will then 
call two boys by name, who, he announces, have done 
the best work of the school and have mastered what 
the school offers. As they stand before him, he gives 
each a portion of the Koran. Each salutes with a bow, 
right hand upon the abdomen, and kisses the master’s 
hand, who then binds about the turban of each (head- 
gear is kept on in school) a strip of white or green 
cloth in token of their graduation. 

At a clap of the teacher’s hands all put away their 


114 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


things, rise and form in line by twos. The teacher 
leads, the graduates and honor boys and the rest in 
order follow, reclaim their shoes, and go out. 

If any occasion for “punishment” should arise, the 
teacher may have the offender—if the offense be 
slight—extend his hands, palms up, and strike the 
palms with the rod; or he may set work to do after 
school, such as copying a hundred words. Severe 
punishment is inflicted by beating the bare soles of the 
offender’s feet as he lies on his back on the floor, 
with his feet held fast by other boys. If necessary, a 
cloth is tied about the boy’s ankles in order to hold him 
fast. | 

If a distinguished visitor appears at the school while 
it is in session, all the pupils start at once to their feet. 
The visitor may wave them down again, but they re- 
main standing until the teacher himself bids them sit. 
This he does after due time allowed for honoring the 
guest. Certain pupils may be called upon to exhibit 
their learning before the visitor. 

Here follow materials for the various lessons men- 
tioned above. Colloquial variations in pronunciation 
are disregarded for the most part, even the widespread 
tendency of Arabic-speakers to flatten the long a, and 
make it similar to the a in fat rather than like the a@ in 
father. 


Numerals (without reference to gender). The order 
of writing numerals is from left to right, as with us, 
but the individual figures are usually written with the 
characteristic right-to-left movement. 


Beyond ten it is one-and-ten (ahad-asher, shortened 
to hidasher), two-and-ten (shortened to “ithnasher’), 


PROJECTS 115 


etc. Twenty is “two tens” (ashrun). The year 1927 
would be \4YY. The Moslem year, however, is 
by the moon and not by the sun. Moslem festivals 
and fast days are thus movable occasions according to 
our solar calendar. 


I 2 3 4 5 6 
\ Y % 4 ° ny 
WAHID ITHNAN THALATHA ARBA KHAMSA SITTA 
7 8 9 10 
Y A Ve 


SABA THAMANYA TISA ASHERA 


Alphabet.. The order is from right to left in every 
case, whether of letter, word, or sentence. 

The English equivalents are given in the first row. 
These sounds are near enough for purposes of the 
project, although they do not represent accurately the 
differences between the pairs of ?’s, th’s, 2’s, s’s, and 
a’s. The first a is a plain short wu sound, the second is 
a guttural impossible to indicate in print. The first 
t is like our t, the second is harder, like ¢t in toss. The 
first th is like th in think, the second is like th in that. 
The s’s are more nearly alike, and so are the 2’s. 

The second row is, of course, the letters in Arabic 
script, as each appears when standing alone. In the 
writing of words these letters, at least nineteen of 
them, suffer changes when linked up with each other. 
Some enthusiastic participants in this project might be 
interested in identifying letters as combined in the 
Arabic words given below. 


116 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


In the third row are words representing the letters 
as each one is named separately in “saying the alpha- 
bet.” In pronouncing them, a is as @ in father, az as 
the sound of a in faith (except in the case of “ain” 
and “ghain” where az is like the a in aisle), 1 as ee in 
seen, Ou as in our, 4“ as 00 in spoon. In Egypt the 7 is 
like g in garden, otherwise like 7 in joy. Q is just a 
guttural eR. 


d kien th t b a 


j 
(g) 
er Ci CMCC Nee ral 


DAL KHAI HAI JIM THAI TAI BAI ALIF 


Z . d S sh S Zz r th 


ZAI TAI DAD SAD SHIN SIN ZAI RAI THAL 


ea ea ve l k q f gh a 
aa, ¥ J 4) © 8 Bes 


HAI NUN MIM LAM KAF QAF FAI GHAIN AIN 


PROJECTS 117 


A few of the ninety-nine “excellent names’ of Allah au) 
The King The Holy The Peaceful The Faithful 
Be Gaal h tS) yah 


AL-MALIK AL-QUDDUS AS-SALAM AL-MUMIN 


The Strong 
B\es) 


AL-JABBAR 


“Al” means “the.” Its pronunciation is often influ- 
enced by the consonant at the beginning of the word 
before which it stands. Note the instance of this 
above: “as-salam.” 


Names to be assigned to boys of the school 


SALEH Sa‘D SAFWAN YAHYA YUNAS YUSUF 


Omar Amr Qatis AMAN ZarID AsAaD_ ALY 


eae pd | OUP 5. told Ne 


OTHMAN Hasan SuLaimMaN Musa Abu JAHAL 


Qhte cpr LL ee hem a! 


The name “Abu Jahal” means “father of ignorance,”’ 
and would do for the dunce of the school. 


118 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 
Miscellaneous words and expressions 


boy girl _ big little who what how 


Ye ce eS ate we aS 


WALAD BINT KABIR SAGHIR MAN MA KAIF 


this good bad book bread water 
We ob gr WT GFL 


HATHA TAYYIB RADY KITAB KHUBAZ MA’ 


dates sugar coffee 


Boy ashe ciolsgs 


TAMR SAKKAR QAHAWA 
How are you? Kaif halak? We aS 


Very well. <Al-humdu lillah (literally, “Praise be to 
Allah!) 4) Ase)] 


Peace be upon you! As-salam alaykum! le eI] 
To this the reply is, “And upon you be peace!’ Wa 


alaykum. as-salam! et)] le 3 


The following Arabic words and expressions are 
suitable for decorative purposes. Other words may be 
used on medallions and elsewhere, as indicated in the 
illustrations of the Grand Project. 


PROJECTS 119 


ALY MuHAMMAD BI’SMILLAH ALLAH 


ni i) 


JESUS IS COMING MasIu “IN THE BEGINNING 
(Messiah) WAS THE WORD” 
1 Fp reas!) ALO) OI sd! 
O THOU ARAB VILLAGE HE IS THE CREATOR, 
THAT OPENEST THE ETERNAL 


Koranic passages. For our purposes the Arabic 
may be disregarded, and transliterations alone be used. 
The Fdatitha in transliteration must be committed to 
memory for the chanting.* The English alone wouid 
do for other Koranic materials. The first passage 
given is the Fatiha, or Sura I. Some liberty is taken 
with the Arabic syllables and word divisions for the 
sake of preserving in English the sound of the Arabic. 
The accents are indicated. 


Bis millahi rahman ir In the name of the merciful, 


rahim P compassionate God. 
Al-hamdu 1illahi rabbil ala- Praise be to God, the Lord 
min of the worlds, 
Ar-rahman ar-rahim The merciful, the compas- 
sionate, 
Mal’aki yaim ad-din King of the day of faith. 


8 See Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, 
p. 383, for the music. 


120 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Iyaka nabudu wa. iyaka Thee only do we worship, 


nasta’een and we seek Thy help 
alone. 

[h’adin as-siratal mustakim Guide Thou us in the right 
path, 

Siratal athinan amta alay- The path of those to whom 
him ghairil magdubi Thou hast been gracious, 
alayhim walad da lin with whom Thou art not 

angry, and who go not 
astray. 


Koran 92: 1-7 might be used as follows: 


Wallayl itha yagsha By the night when she en- 
7 folds us, 
Wannahar itha tajaéla By the day when it glows, 
Wama_ khalaka_ thakara By Him who created us 
wal untha all, 
Inna sa yakum la shatta Truly men strive for many 
ends. 
Fa amma man aata wat- As for him who gives 
taka gifts and fears, 
Wa saddaka bil husna Who sides in with the good, 
Fa sanu yassiruhu lil yusra To him the way to happi- 


ness is easy. 


Woman AND Home Lire Projecr 


In an excellent new book entitled Moslem Women, 
by A. E. and S. M. Zwemer, there is an illuminating 
chapter entitled “The Moslem Woman: Theory and 
Practise.” The entire book, and this chapter in par- 
ticular, contains valuable source materials for the 
working out of several projects on Moslem woman- 
hood. The making of a marriage contract as de- 


PROJECTS 121 


scribed on pages 48-49 could be dramatized with only 
a little preparation, and could be made the basis of a 
thoroughgoing study of Moslem marriage. There are 
materials on pages 60-61 for another project, the Zar, 
or ceremony for the exorcism of evil spirits, especially 
if the paraphernalia for the ceremony could be pro- 
cured from a mission board or directly from Cairo. 

It is not easy to comprehend and to portray cor- 
rectly the actual, characteristic condition of women in 
Islamic lands. The very difficulty, however, which is 
inherent in the situation should be in itself an incentive 
toward the attempt. It should likewise inspire us with 
caution in the effort. A recent writer reminds us that 
in days to come “the storm center of the social prob- 
lem (in Islam) will inevitably be the position of 
women.” If this is true—and we are sure it is—we 
should strive to get some insight into the real life 
situation among Moslem women. 

We could afford to discard, at least temporarily, the 
notions which we have held heretofore, and set about 
an earnest investigation of the whole subject. In any 
case, it rests with the teacher or leader who would use 
the project method in portraying the life of woman in 
Islam to procure at the outset the broadest possible 
view of the subject, within reasonable time limits. 
Moslem Women is an admirable and fair introduction 
to this problem. 

Read also Sailer’s The Moslem Faces the Future, 
pages 112-122, for a condensed statement of the 
feminist movement in Islam. For the satisfaction of 
knowing what some writers have said who have had no 
special missionary interest, read the following: 


122 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, Lane. 
(See index under “Woman,” “Wives,” “Dress,” “Mar- 
riage,’ “Hareem,” etc.) 

Observations on Indian Mussulmans (portions), Mrs. Meer 
Hasan Ali. 

The Moslem East, Ponafidine, pages 304-339, 402-429. 

Haremlik, Demetra Vaka. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston. 


It may be that some few persons in the parish will 
specialize during the program on this aspect of the 
Moslem world. It would be well worth doing, if a 
thorough study were made. In which case the project 
now under consideration could be made during the 
Grand Project a valuable public exhibition of the 
major results of the study. The references given above 
would help considerably toward a sane evaluation of 
the status of the Moslem woman. In any event there 
would remain after the intensive examination an im- 
pression of the dire need of social progress by which 
the women of Islam may rise above the present plane 
where custom and religious restraint have held them. 

The aim of the project is, of course, so to portray 
the life of woman as to distinguish the essential from 
the circumstantial, to get at the inner significance of 
things rather than to gaze merely upon the outward 
appearance. It is the problem and the solution which 
we seek. As the authors of Moslem Women say, “To 
lay all physical evils at the door of Islam would be 
unfair,” but some physical evils, at least, may be 
charged against the faith itself, as the situation stands. 
And other evils than physical may sometimes also be 
linked up causally with Islam. But in our study of the 
matter we should not forget that there is to some ex- 
tent within Islam a flexibility, a power of change and 


PROJECTS 123 


adaptation, through which possible general advances 
in Islamic civilization may influence traditional re- 
ligious notions, for, as Professor G. F. Moore says, 
“between the progress of civilization in general and 
progress in religion there is not only a parallel but a 
constant interaction.’ Both custom and religion have 
so far united to keep the status of woman on a low 
level. 

Look for a moment at Mohammed’s treatment of 
the problem before us. In pagan Arabia in his day 
both polygamy and polyandry were practised, and both 
were unlimited by social custom. Both were to the 
Arabs as truly forms of marriage as is monogamy to 
the American today. Mohammed did not recognize 
polyandry at all. He did recognize polygamy, but re- 
stricted it. His limitation tended to that extent to 
correct a lower practise, and was therefore a step in 
advance. He sought to check sheer promiscuity, and 
to change the standards of marriage in the interest of 
modesty and respectability. He certainly wrought im- 
provement in sex relations in Mecca and Medina—the 
Arabian desert people, however, have always been 
monogamous. Yet his system of marriage was at 
bottom practically the old pagan marriage of purchase 
and dominion, with even less freedom to the woman 
than she had enjoyed in pagan days, and less protec- 
tion to her person than the pagan tribal system had 
afforded, for marriage under the old order in no way 
severed the prior ties of kinship, nor took the woman 
beyond the practical watchcare of her own brothers. 

Furthermore, Mohammed recognized the institution 
of divorce and allowed to men especially great free- 
dom in the exercise of its privileges, although in turn 


124 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


he hedged divorce about with minute restrictions. He 
placed no limit upon the number of concubines which 
aman might legally have in his house. This, of course, 
was due at least in part to circumstances of war by 
which females often greatly outnumbered males. 
These circumstances affected to some extent the whole 
question of marriage and divorce. Mohammed looked 
at things on the whole from the point of view of the 
free male Arab, but consigned woman to a place of 
inferiority—not a permanent place necessarily, for he 
said that if a man feared that he would not act 
equitably toward several wives he should marry only 
one. However, even monogamy as such does not 
signify the equality of woman with man. More is in- 
volved in the problem than mere polygamy. 
Mohammed considers the family almost solely from 
the standpoint of the man who is the head of it. The 
woman is some man’s property—her father’s, brother’s, 
guardian’s, or husband’s. As a wife she belongs to 
her husband, her former natural ties being severed. 
For her correction and improvement her husband may 
admonish, exhort, and chastise her. She is the bearer 
and nourisher of his children, and is responsible to 
him for her conduct in his absence, as well as in his 
presence. He, in turn, is responsible not to her but to 
the community. Man is a “step” above woman, said 
the Prophet, God having gifted one above the other. 
Mohammed, however, allowed woman certain rights. 
She has power over her own property. The dowry 
which comes with her remains her own. In matters 
of dispute she has the privilege of an arbiter from her 
own family. She is deemed capable of being a party 
to mutual agreement. Marriage in the case of free 





SCENE AT A CAFE 


On the stool (kursee) are a tray and coffee set. Women, of course, 
would not be seen at a café in Moslem lands, but some liberties 
may be taken in the project, provided they are explained. 





SCENE IN A HAREM 


The young woman with the high head-dress is the “bride.” Her outfit was 
more Jewish than Moslem and came from Bethlehem, Palestine. She was 
veiled during the procession. 


PROJECTS 125 


Moslems requires the mutual consent of both parties. 
Divorce is man’s prerogative alone. 

All this is a very much abbreviated statement of the 
matter. It represents, however, as far as it goes, not 
only the Prophet’s mind but the mind of the Moslem 
community today. Woman, notwithstanding her 
recognized charm and influence, and the high place she 
has occasionally held in the Islamic order, occupies 
characteristically an inferior position in Islam. Her 
emergence from seclusion and her rise above inferiority 
are questions of time and progress. Outside influ- 
ence and internal development must combine to bring 
about these desirable ends. We of the West are 
rightly interested in the matter. Christians are 
doubly interested from a desire to see the level of 
womanhood rise and to have the life of woman 
leavened by a gospel which appreciates her and offers 
full opportunity for her development. Our project has 
to take account of all these considerations, an interpre- 
tation of the essential situation in contrast with out- 
ward, current appearances, and a demonstration of the 
way of reform, with whatever part Christianity may 
have to play in the life of Moslem womanhood before 
it attains its highest level. 

Let us now discuss the matter before us in terms 
of the Grand Project. This will indicate also what 
might be done on some other occasions. We might 
describe two or three events which were included in 
the final schedule at the Church of the Redeemer, of 
New Haven. One has to do with marriage and the 
lot of women, another illustrates a social meeting of 
women, and the third is a conversation between Turk- 
ish women and an American missionary. 


126 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


MarrIAGE PROJECT 


In this project there is combined a somewhat 
lengthy monologue and a wedding procession which 
interrupts it at a certain point. The procession is in- 
_ tended to represent the delivery of the new bride to 
the bridegroom’s house. It is assumed that the con- 
tract of marriage has been signed at the agent’s house 
after the groom-to-be has had a sight of the girl 
chosen for him or by him. The marriage ceremony 
really takes place at the agent’s house, with the agent 
as proxy for the bride, and the girl is actually a bride 
before the time of the procession in which she is taken 
to her husband’s home. A very good description of 
the whole marriage procedure from the search for a 
bride and the negotiations for her to “the Night of the 
Entrance’ and beyond may be found in Lane, pages 
162-190. This book is so valuable for the program 
that it is assumed it will be procured by every church 
interested. It provides materials upon womanhood 
which are still essentially true of the present situation. 
Elihu Grant’s People of Palestine, pages 53-64, is also 
valuable. 

To return to the immediate project. The procession 
forms in the harem (see illustration, page 125), whence 
it will file out through the audience and make its way 
to the groom’s house (see in illustration, page 148). 
For details regarding the bride, her attendants, cos- 
tumes, music, etc., see Lane’s book. The company 
need not represent Egypt; any other Moslem land or 
people would do as well, if the appropriate equipment 
could be found. The procession is carried out mainly 


PROJECTS 127 


to show the passing of the woman over into the pos- 
session of her husband. If the dough ceremony is 
observed (see monologue, page 129), the husband 
could meet the bride at his door, coming out of his 
house with attendants on her arrival. The whole affair 
may be carried out elaborately or simply, at the dis- 
cretion of those in charge. In any case, sufficient de- 
tails are furnished by Lane and others whose works 
may be read in this connection. 

The monologue is delivered from the latticed win- 
dow of the groom’s house, as though, it may be, the 
speaker were another wife of the groom. The reading 
is intended to set before the audience in as brief com- 
pass as possible pertinent details and a general appraisal 
of the status of Moslem women. It includes many as- 
pects of woman’s life. It aims to be both appreciative 
and critical and to leave a general impression in 
harmony with the introductory survey which was made 
above (pages 120-125). The woman who speaks. is 
veiled, but not so completely that she may not be heard 
distinctly. She may be seen through the open shutters. 
Her voice should be clear, penetrating, and dramatic, 
for she represents not only a particular Moslem 
woman, but the spirit of Moslem womanhood. It 
would be well for her to commit her part to memory, 
but this is not absolutely necessary, for the part might 
be read with good effect. She is interrupted after her 
fourth paragraph by the noise and appearance of the 
wedding procession which has been in readiness in the 
harem. After the bride has entered the new home, she 
resumes her reading. 


The monologue is as follows: 


\ 


128 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


I am a village woman of the fellaheen in the valley of the 
Nile. I came, however, from the desert in the shadow of 
Mt. Sinai. My family were of the surplus population there 
whom the land could not support. Many have moved out of 
dire need from the bare place of the tent to the easier lands 
along the blessed river. 

How hard was the life of the desert days! In the depth 
of winter how miserable our shelter, protecting us neither 
from rain nor from the howling winds which swept over 
the sands! Into such a tent came I into the world, and as 
a babe I lay upon the floor, with filthy rags to cover me, 
with goats and sheep—and fleas—as my companions, while 
my mother made the bread and fetched the water from the 
well. And there I grew, having survived crude midwifery, 
and escaping great diseases which even the open desert 
knows full well. Did not Yusuf of Ain Musa go on pil- 
grimage to Mecca and bring black death through our tents 
on his return? They were hard days; but we were free, as 
free as the wind, nor were we veiled. 

But impossible hardness came, and in the days of hunger 
we made our way, by the will of Allah, to a friendlier 
land—“There is no power nor might but by Allah.”—In 
our new home my mother was always busy, but she taught 
me to be useful. I took the dinner to the men at work. I 
sat by the fire when the pot was cooking and pushed thorns 
under it. I drove the chickens out of the barley patch. I 
ground the corn in the mill between the two stones, made 
dough and baked the bread. I picked the little stones from 
the lentils. I learned to weave baskets and mats to sleep on. 
And I have been to Cairo to sell the things we made. 

With my usefulness I was fair,—fair and useful,—and the 
time of marriage came. I thought it fine to be a bride. My 
heart was full when I was told I was betrothed. They 
gave me a new dress, put ostrich feathers on my head, seated 
me upon a camel and led me about the village. What a gala 
time! At my husband’s house I placed my hand upon the 


—S a Se ee 


7 hag 


PROJECTS 129 


dough on the frame of the door—I was now the bread- 
maker, mistress of a home. And my husband pressed his 
hand upon mine until it sank into the dough—he was master 
of me and my work! I did not realize it then. Joy made 
me feel exceptional. But I am the average wife. (Ai this 
point the wedding wmstruments sound and the procession 
appears.) 

There is plenty for me and mine, but there is seclusion, 
there is the veil. That were no hardship, to be sure, were 
there companionship. We women are not our men’s com- 
panions. We are valued for our usefulness; we are pleas- 
ing toys while we are fair. I have learned that I was sold 
as a bride to him who pledged the higher sum, and while 
the dowry is my own, yet was I sold, as the custom is. Our 
husbands and we have little in common in the realm of 
mind. We women do not have minds. At least, we are not 
taught to read. We are only left to wonder, and the burden 
of our talk is village gossip. We are told that we are men’s 
calamity, and I have heard that some have called us cattle. 
Cattle we may be, for we serve and are silent. The Prophet 
himself—the peace of God be upon him!—hath said that we 
may not enter Paradise save as we are well-pleasing to our 
husbands. 

I have already learned to wonder what the days ahead may 
bring forth. I shall be older then, older and less fair, but, 
please God, I shall be no less devoted. But will there come 
another bride across the door-step? In sha'llah! (If God 
wills!) It were not hard for me, but would my precious 
children fare so well? How fondly do I hope for them! I 
passed a school one day in Cairo when I sold my wares. I 
paused and heard girls’ voices raised in recitation, and I 
have wondered if education was for women-folk. A voice 
within me bids me hope it is. I have seen something of the 
larger world. I have seen ladies of my own faith go with- 
out the veil in Cairo city, and I have learned that in the 
West there is no veil at all, and women are companions to 


130 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


their men. And once the Nile boat Jbis stopped awhile be- 
side our shore. A woman of the West came off to talk with 
us women of the village. She read to us, and said that all 
the women of her world knew how to read. She told us of 
the ideal which Jesus—on whom be peace!—had for woman- 
kind, and how his spirit worked to lift all women up, not 
only in men’s eyes but in their own. 

I have pondered much on things I’ve seen and heard. I 
realize J have not fared so ill. I think of Zainab who once 
fell sick from beatings because she had offended her hus- 
band’s favorite slave girl. And Ayesha—well-omened name! 
—has long since been a widow, for smallpox marred her 
comeliness. Umm Laylah now is but a drudge in her hus- 
band’s house, and slave to the new mistress there. No, J 
have fared well so far; yet I keep wondering about Moslem 
womanhood. Has the Prophet—the peace of Allah be upon 
him !—put a ban on womanhood? How cramped their lives 
have been through all the centuries, and still the saying 
goes, “The threshold of the house is wet with tears when 
girls are born; for forty days it weeps.” And in the years 
thereafter women weep. 

It is for two great boons I hope for Moslem womankind, 
for freedom and exaltation of spirit, freedom to learn and 
grow, and minds made sensitive to the whole wide world. 
The second is more personal—for love, the love of one man 
for his one mate, the love of parents for the children of 
their home, for love that makes the world a fragrant garden 
of humanity, for love of God. 


There are other possibilities in the materials appro- 
priate for this project. The “writing of the contract,” 
as in Lane, (pages 164-166), could be dramatized 
easily, for the words are provided for several spoken 
parts. For possible music for the procession see Lane, 
pages 375-381—strains which might be hummed if not 


PROJECTS 131 


used with words. On the whole this project would 
afford opportunity for intensive study and some ex- 
cellent dramatic effects. 


AFTERNOON Visit PRoyEcT 


This, of course, takes some working up. It should 
not be attempted without study and attention to de- 
tails, including details other than those immediately 
involved. This project as given in New Haven used 
the stage shown in the illustrations to be found be- 
tween pages 152 and 153. The properties included 
a couch placed diagonally at back center, a brass- 
topped table at right center and slightly forward (di- 
rections are given in terms of one on the stage and 
facing the audience), a stool near the head of the 
couch and to the rear of the table, a cushion at the foot 
of the couch, a water-pipe (narghilé) * near the foot of 
the couch, a spinning instrument, a rosary, an ordinary 
long pipe (kalyun), and a large oriental rug covering 
most of the stage. Outside were a tray and coffee 
service, a glass of water, a spoon, and a glass of jelly. 
There were two doors to the stage, through one of 
which (right) the visitor came, and through the other 
of which (left) the wife brought in the jelly, and the 
servant brought the coffee. 

The persons taking part included two wives of the 
householder, two children, two female servants, the 
visitor and her female servant. The first wife sits 
upon the couch; the second, on the cushion. The chil- 
dren are at the left of the room with a servant who is 
playing games with them. One servant is outside the 


1In Egypt the women use cigarettes, if they smoke at all. 


132 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


room ready to enter on call. The two wives are em- 
ployed spinning, or at embroidery. If an embroidery 
frame is desired, see Lane, page 195. 

The visitor and her servant arrive. Her servant 
knocks. The first wife claps her hands, summons her 
servant from without, and indicates that “someone 
knocks.” 


Servant of the house: Men huwa? (Who is it?) 
Visitor’s servant: Ehna! (We have come). 


By the sound of the voice it is known that women have 
come. The lady visitor is admitted, her outer garment is 
taken by the house servant, and she is presented to the 
hostesses, who rise to greet her. 


Visitor: Salam alaykum! (Peace upon you!) 

First wife: Wa alaykum as-salam! (And on you be peace!) 
Meanwhile she extends her hand for a handshake. The 

visitor and second wife may exchange similar greetings. 

Then the visitor may say to the first wife, the mistress of 

the house: 

Visitor: Kayf hal’akum? (How are you?) Kayf hal al- 
awwalad? (How are the children?) In sha’llah kullakum 
mabsutin (I hope you are all well). 


First wife: Al hamdu lillah! (Praise be to God !—meaning, 
Yes, we are well.) Istarih! (Do sit down!) 
She motions to a high place on the couch beside her. 


Visitor: A’att wissalam! (Unworthy!) 
She makes toward a humbler seat. 


First wife: La, la, lazim tu’ udi hina! (No, no; you must sit 
here!) The visitor moves up higher. 


PROJECTS 133 


The visitor’s servant has been sitting meanwhile by 
the side of the room as if in an outer court, and the 
house servant has been chatting with her. The visi- 
tor’s street garment (abba, if the costume is Arabic) 
was early put down at one side of the room. Abbas 
are not worn indoors, of course. If the visitor came 
veiled (most likely she did), her veil is thrown back, 
or removed, for there is no danger in the harem of 
sudden intrusion. If even the master of the house 
approaches, he announces his arrival and gives time for 
retiring, or veiling. 

Very shortly the mistress sends her servant off for 
coffee. She herself rises and leaves the room, and re- 
turns with the jelly, the spoon, and the glass of water. 
She gives each person in the room (servants excluded) 
a spoonful of jelly, beginning with the visitor, dipping 
the spoon from time to time in the water to cleanse it. 
The servant may take some time to bring the coffee. 
The time may be occupied in conversation, in showing 
finery, in the telling of some tale, or in remarks about 
the children’s progress in school. The water-pipe, or 
the kalyun, may be passed around—women often 
smoke, 

Regarding the serving of coffee, see Mrs. Goodrich- 
Freer’s Arabs in Tent and Town, pages 143-157, as 
well as Lane, pages 140-142. The servant will return 
in time with tray, coffee-pot and cups, which she sets 
on the table. The mistress pours the coffee, adds a 
drop of rose-water, it may be, in each cup, and hands 
the cups to the visitor and the other wife. She pours 
one for herself also. All drink together. The coffee 
must not be given or taken by the left hand; nor must 


134 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


more than three cups of Arab coffee be taken by any- 
one (Turkish coffee is served only once). When giv- 
ing back the cup it is jostled 1f one wishes to indicate 
that no more coffee is desired. 

At the conclusion of the visit—which for project 
purposes should not continue more than fifteen minutes 
—the guest begs leave to go. 


Visitor: Istarkhis (I ask leave to go).? 
Both wives: Shatraftumina (You have honored us). 


The visitor, having resumed her abba and veil, aided 
by the house servant, bids a simple good-by: “Fi aman 
Allah!” with no other salutation, no handshaking or 
other formality. The guest may have observed the 
nearness of sunset and spoken of it as reason for con- 
cluding her visit. Better-class ladies are not out after 
sunset. 

The third item referred to above; namely, the con- 
versation between Turkish women and an American 
missionary, is not included in this book. It was based 
upon a dialogue which was procured from the Congre- 
gational Woman’s Board, 14 Beacon Street, Boston, 
Mass. The parts were redivided to allow for two 
Turkish women instead of one. 


GamEs AND CHILD LiFE PRojecr 


During the general program and especially at the 
time of the Grand Project some attention might be 
given with pleasure and profit to the play-life of Mos- 


2In Egypt, Astazin. 


PROJECTS 135 


lem children. It might not only be a means of further 
understanding between our boys and girls and those of 
Moslem lands, but also furnish some interesting diver- 
sion at Scout meetings or other occasions when games 
are in order. It would be difficult to get our boys to 
play games in which there were not some inherent in- 
terest for them. Many of the games of Moslem chil- 
dren would not interest our boys, but some would. 
These games, if used as projects, could be made of 
real educational value. They could introduce our boys 
to phases of Moslem life, at the discretion and direc- 
tion of the Scoutmaster or other leader. Some boys 
might be found who would welcome an opportunity 
and occasion to study the whole matter of Eastern 
games and their place in juvenile life. Indeed, this 
might prove profitable employment of time for cer- 
tain adults who are engaged in work with children. 

This book cannot offer much on the subject, for the 
author has not made a special study of it, and the 
play-life of Moslem children is a vast field in itself. 
He can offer, however, some materials of which he 
has made use now and then, and which anyone might 
use to advantage. 

We get the impression as we read on the subject 
and mingle with Moslem children here and there that 
their play is comparatively simple. They do play, and 
in their own way have a jolly time at it. Sticks, stones, 
rag balls, etc., figure in their games. In general, they 
have nothing to correspond with our football, baseball, 
hockey, etc. There is little team-work in their play, 
although team-work is not entirely absent from some 
of their games, as we shall see. Cricket is played here 
and there, but the cost of equipment, if nothing else, 


136 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


keeps the game beyond the reach of ordinary boys. 
Attempts have been made to introduce baseball and 
association football, but these games are still unknown 
save in a few large centers. Tag, hide-and-seek, 
prisoners’ base, and the like are common. They re- 
quire little or no equipment, and are simple in execu- 
tion. Marbles are played in various ways, for the 
most part similar to the ways in which our boys play. 
The Eastern boy, however, usually shoots with two 
hands, somewhat after the fashion of our boys flipping 
grains of corn. The marble is placed between the 
middle fingers of the two hands and flipped with one 
or the other finger (most Easterners are right-handed, 
the use of the left hand having certain “evil” connota- 
tions), not as among our boys from a position between 
the end of the index finger and the first joint of the 
thumb. 

A form of leap-frog is played, especially in Syria. 
Indeed one is struck with the similarities of play in 
East and West. Children the world over have many 
things in common, as have adults. Differences often 
amount to variations in the economic level and the 
general level of culture rather than to essential differ- 
ences in things themselves. In the game of leap-frog 
a boy may take two steps and a jump and bend down 
at the place where he lands. A second boy must be 
able to take two steps and jump over the first boy. If 
he succeeds, the first boy is “down” at the new posi- 
tion of landing, and must stay at successive downs 
until the jumper fails. The jumper then is “down.” 

They play also another game similar to one of ours. 
A circle forms with the boy in the center who is “it.” 
An object is passed from hand to hand, boy to boy, in 


PROJECTS £37 


the ring. It is the center boy’s task to catch a boy with 
the object still in his possession, or before he has 
passed it on successfully. The boy caught becomes 
“it.” The game as played in some quarters requires a 
live coal! 

Methods of determining who is “it” for various 
games vary. A common way is for the boys to line 
up, each with his arms around the waist of the boy 
ahead of him, the leading boy having hold of a post or 
tree. All pull and the first to lose his hold is “‘it.” 
There are methods also of counting out, as we do. 

In Turkey one of the common games is “Long 
Donkey.”’ Two sets of boys play, about five on a 
side. The “donkey” is formed by the captain of one 
side standing with his back against a wall. One of his 
men leans with his head against the captain’s waist, the 
next man leans with his head against the first man’s 
rear, the third against the second, etc., all holding on to 
make the donkey. The other set are the riders. Each 
man jumps astride one of the units of the donkey— 
five riders for the four men who are down. A(fter all 
the riders are mounted, their captain (the first man up) 
has to count fifty in a breath, while the donkey does its 
best to throw him or any one of his men. If any man 
is thrown, the riders become the donkey. If not, they 
have other chances until there is a fall. 

A game found in several sections of the Near East 
is played by any number of boys with a stick, a base, 
and a ball. A boy standing at the base bats the ball 
(often made of rags and twine) out among the other 
players. If a player fields the ball (catching a fly or 
stopping a grounder), he is entitled to a free throw at 
the base from where he fielded the ball. The others 


138 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


stand aside at his command, “dastur.”’ If he hits the 
base he becomes the privileged batter. 

There is a Persian game which is exciting. A stick 
is placed on the ground in the center of a ring of boys 
who line up with their backs to the stick, but not 
clasping hands or otherwise united. There is a 
guardian of the stick in the center of the circle. 
Around the ring of defendants the attackers form 
whose object is to secure the stick. If an attacker can 
encircle one or more of the boys in the inner ring and 
get back to his place in the outer circle without having 
his back slapped, the boy or boys whom he encircled 
are out of the game, being “dead.’’ Any boy in the 
outer circle whose back is slapped is “dead” and out of 
the game. If the outer boys secure the stick, they have 
the honor of defending it, otherwise they must attack 
again. 

A game for smaller children could be made on the 
basis of an Arabian game called “The Castle of 
Khaibar.” This would allow for reference to an inci- 
dent in the life of Mohammed. The Jews of the town 
of Khaibar, near Yathrib—which has been known as 
al-Medina, or “the city,” since the days of Mohammed 
—hbuilt themselves a castle in defense against the 
Bedouins and then against the Moslems. ‘The castle 
was surrounded by many walls as in the diagram below. 
Mohammed attacked the Jews in their stronghold and 
took twenty days to storm it. The Jews were slain, or 
deported, or forced into Islam. (See Margoliouth’s 
Mohammed, pages 355 ff. for an account of this. ) 

The Arab boys draw the diagram in the sand. We 
might chalk it on the floor, say about fifteen feet 
square. One boy might be stationed in the castle and 


PROJECTS 139 


charged with “watching.” The attackers are allowed 
to enter at the gate “x” and distribute themselves as 
far as point “‘y.” Thereafter each attacker must move 
without being seen by the guard. If seen moving, he is 


“dead.” No one attacking may cross a “wall.” To 





{ve 
; 3s 
DIAGRAM FOR THE GAME “CASTLE OF KHAIBAR” 


guard against the defender’s standing with gaze fixed 
upon certain points, thus preventing progress, the at- 
tackers are allowed the privilege of “killing” him—if 
they can get anywhere near enough without over- 
stepping a ‘“‘wall,” by slapping him on the back without 
his detecting beforehand any movement on their part. 


140 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Or the diagram might be made into a puzzle by mak- 
ing a second entrance at the arrow and breaking the 
fourth “wall” at “=” or otherwise complicating the 
walls so that one may run the risk of doubling back 
upon his way and missing the castle entirely. 

Other games may be found in the following volumes: 


Children at Play in Many Lands, Katherine S. Hall. . Pages 
61-67. 

When I Was a Boy in Turkey, Sabri Bey. Pages 70-76. 

Peasaniry of Palestine, Elihu Grant, page 71. (A later 
edition is entitled The People of Palestine.) 

Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, E. W. Lane. 


Pages 350-359. 


The last reference might prove of great interest to 
one who has the patience to work out the strange games 
described in it. 


THE GRAND PROJECT 


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A FACSIMILE OF THE FIRST PAGE OF THE PROGRAM DRAWN FOR 
THE PROJECT AS IT WAS PRODUCED IN NEW HAVEN 


IV 
THE GRAND PROJECT 


N YE have referred a number of times to what 
we call the “Grand Project.” In the discus- 
sion of the schedule (pages 158-160) it was 
set as the goal toward which to carry on the program. 
Elsewhere (pages 92-95), certain projects which may 
be undertaken at any time and for any occasion are de- 
scribed in terms appropriate to their uses as parts of 
the Grand Project. The Grand Project* is not an 
isolated unit, and should not be undertaken apart from 
the program as a whole. It is the climax of the pro- 
gram, although it is, of course, a major feature in 
itself. It is something to look forward to all along 
the way. It furnishes incentive for many other aspects 
of the work. For example, from the projects at- 
tempted at various times the best may be selected for 
inclusion in the Grand Project, thus providing a fitting 
conclusion to the entire period of study and an appro- 
priate public demonstration of some of the fruits of 
the program. As a public demonstration it will reach 
and influence a yet wider constituency than the local 
parish itself. 

Keeping all these things in mind, we may now dis- 
cuss the Grand Project in itself. With reference to 
China one may find a full discussion of this in the 
author’s China in the Local Parish, pages 38-61.” The 

1We do not use the term “pageant” at all, for it seems to 
represent a merely superficial undertaking. Furthermore, it sug- 
gests a show, or spectacle. Our interest is educational and not 
spectacular. 


2 Published by the Missionary Education Movement. Price, 50 
cents. Order through denominational headquarters. 


143 


144 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Grand Moslem Project follows the plan suggested 
there. The treatment here, therefore, will be compara- 
tively brief and will have to do mainly with references 
to Islamic materials. 


PREPARATION IN GENERAL 


Sufficient time should be allowed for thorough 
preparation, whether the Grand Project is to be com- 
paratively simple, or elaborate. The time allotted to 
preparation is as important for a single item as for 
many, for whatever is done should be well done. Many 
churches will attempt only a few things during their 
first year at this new method. They may even prefer 
to think and act in terms of a simpler title than “Grand 
Project’”—say, “Arab Village,” or some such title. 
Indeed, it is some such title rather than the more com- 
prehensive one which actually appears upon the an- 
nouncements and programs of the occasion, whether 
simple or elaborate. While some churches will attempt 
to do only a few things, others will find themselves 
ready to undertake more. Whatever is to be done 
should be considered carefully at an early date, espe- 
cially if costumes, curios, etc., are to be booked for the 
occasion. As a matter of fact, the planning of the 
general program (see pages 82-87) should include the 
fixing of at least the dates of the Grand Project and the 
tentative booking of equipment. The actual details of 
the Grand Project may be worked out not later than 
two months ahead of the dates then fixed. It requires 
at least two months for organization and maturity. 
For suggestions as to what to consider suitable for the 
Grand Project see the “daily schedule” on page 159. 


THE GRAND PROJECT 145 


The chairmen, at least, of the various committees 
should be selected two months in advance, in order that 
each may become thoroughly familiar with the gen- 
eral plan and his own part in it. The members of the 
committees may be chosen later. 

Two weeks may be allowed each chairman for the 
formulation of tentative plans, for whatever corre- 
spondence may be necessary toward that end, and for 
the making of estimates as to the cost of the work. 
All this is made the easier for the chairmen because of 
the fact that the general Director has supplied them at 
the outset with leads and suggestions. After two weeks 
all the chairmen should meet together for consultation 
—there is no alternative, for all should become ac- 
quainted with each other’s plans. With practically 
definite plans formulated at this meeting, the Director 
is in a position to send throughout the congregation 
a circular letter about the Grand Project, and the 
Publicity Committee can arrange for appropriate an- 
nouncements. It is most desirable to stimulate the 
mind of the whole parish regarding the enterprise. 


FINANCES 


A word about the cost of the Grand Project may 
be in order here. A most elaborate and adequate pro- 
duction can be financed for about five hundred dol- 
lars. Two hundred dollars would be an ample cash 
outlay for a very worthy performance. These figures 
have to do only with cost of materials, rentals, in- 
surance, etc., and not with the labor involved. ‘The 
Project is a parish enterprise and the work is done by 
parishioners as part of the educational program. The 


146 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


method of covering the cash expense will be determined 
by each parish according to circumstances. Some will 
write the item into the annual budget. Others will 
raise a special fund. Some will not seek to recover the 
money expended. Others will charge an admission fee 
at the Project for the sake of merely meeting the bare 
costs. ‘There should be no desire for financial gain. 
Such desire would lower the morale of the workers 
and create a harmful atmosphere for all. The ven- 
ture is educational and not financial. The joy lies in 
the fruitful work and not in the “gate receipts.” It 
will be well, also, not to make too much of the matter 
of sales, if certain articles are sold from the “shop,” 
and meals are served in the “restaurant.” 


CoMMITTEES 


The various “Arab Village’? committees, their sev- 
eral responsibilities, and the source materials for their 
use are as follows: 


Design and construction. This committee supplies 
the entire physical setting of mosques, houses, a shop, 
and a coffee-house. For suggestions regarding designs 
and construction see the illustrations in this book. 
‘The designs shown there should, of course, be modified 
to suit the measurements of different rooms and build- 
ings. The committee must take account of its avail- 
able space and funds and act accordingly. It is well, 
however, to cover or modify every bit of wall space 
in order to create the proper atmosphere. Flags, 
draperies, cloth prints, and rugs will serve admirably 
for this purpose, in addition to the actual construction 


THE GRAND PROJECT 147 


work done with furring, celotex, insulin, building 
board, or what not. An architect, a draftsman, or a 
carpenter should draw preliminary sketches to suit the 
local situation. In doing this, much help could be 
derived from the following: 


Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, Lane. 
Arab at Home, Harrison. 

Constantinople, Dwight. 

Der Islam, Mann. 

Dictionary of Islam, Hughes. 


As for colors, it may be said that cream or light tan 
makes the best background, and that the more sober 
and less flashy shades are best for decoration. Follow 
the color suggestions of a Persian or a Turkish rug. 
Much of the decoration can be done with stencils. The 
windows are merely designs, save for the one through 
which the woman speaks (see illustration, page 148). 


Costumes. This committee is responsible for cos- 
tuming all participants. Some costumes can be rented 
from mission boards, others can be made and kept as 
parish properties. Costumes rented should be checked 
up when received and each piece marked upon assign- 
ment to a participant (adhesive tape may be used). 
During the Project all costumes should be kept in 
special rooms at the church, each on its own chair or 
hook which bears the name of the wearer. 


Exhibits. Just so many “curios”? No, not exactly. 
A proper committee will make them live in the minds 
of the observers, and will not merely have charge of 
an inert museum for several days. They will study 


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a4iV) GNV dOHS AHL LNOHLIM ANAS 





THE GRAND PROJECT 149 


cups, a brazier, bellows, water jars, a small bottle of 
rose or orange water, and coffee. Any coffee may be 
used. It should be pounded or ground to a fine 
powder. For coffee-making see Lane, pages 147-152; 
Goodrich-Freer, Arabs in Tent and Town, pages 143- 
157; and Grant, pages 81-82. 

For sweets, pastries, etc. (baklawa, halwa, Turkish 
Delight, Apricot Delight, pistachio nut cakes), write 
Maneer Alwan, 95 Washington Street, New York 
City; Alfred Habib, Box 157, Torrington, Con- 
necticut ; John Adba, 40 Hudson Street, Boston, Massa- 
chusetts ; or a local Syrian or Armenian merchant who 
might know of other sources of supply. See Grant, 
pages 78-90 for details regarding food, meals, etc., 
including a recipe for Turkish Delight. 


Music. The program should include a few vocal 
and instrumental selections, and some exposition of 
Arabian music. The local choir leader is an appro- 
priate chairman of this committee. Among the sources 
for his own study, from which the selections could be 
chosen are: 


Music and Musical Instruments of the Arabs, H. G. Farmer. 

Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, E. W. Lane. 

Arabia, the Cradle of Islam, S. M. Zwemer. 

Music from Mission Fields, B. M. Brain, United Society of 
Christian Endeavor, Boston. 

Oriental Selections and Oriental Piano Selections, Leon S. 
Nahmee, Nahmee Music Co., 571 47th Street, Brooklyn, 
N.:Y. 


150 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Phonograph records (Syrian, Egyptian, Turkish, 
vocal and instrumental) may be procured from the 
Victor Company. 


The following is a transliteration and very free ren- 
dering of Reeyahoo’l Hoobee, The Winds of Love, 
from Nahmee’s Oriental Selecttons—the music and the 
Arabic script are to be found in the book itself: 


Habbat reeyahoo’l hoobee The winds of love are blow- 
ing ; 
Min haithoo yadree kalbee My heart yearns with their 
passing. 
Ya ookhtu roohee lab bee O sister of my spirit, 
Min ooja kee’l na da Attend unto my prayer. 
Habbat reeyahoo’l bilwah The winds waft pain unto 
me. 
Ama sama’at najwah Dost thou not hear my 
pleading? 
Fee nuwah kalbee yahwah My heart is weeping sorely, 
Wa ma la hoo ri ja In hopeless mood it cries. 
Absoot fee ath thalama I stretch into the darkness 
Yada ee lil ghurama The hands that seek my 
loved one; 
Fa la arah amamee I nothing see before me 
Shayen soowal fatha Save the vast dim ring of 
sands. 
Ayatoo hal kawakib O planets, as ye wander, 
Aynal habeeb il gha ib Find where my love now 
dwelleth; 
Kad taa la ma oorakib I stand here ’neath the 
heavens 


Fee laylat is sama And gaze into the night. 


THE GRAND PROJECT 151 


Other committees are needed than those already 
mentioned; namely, Dramatization; Transport and 
Custody, to arrange for shipment, receipt, delivery, 
custody, and return of all articles, and to arrange for 
insurance and watchman while valuable goods are at 
the Church; Publicity and Printing, to announce the 
Project by letter, poster, newspaper, and printed pro- 
gram; Finance, to arrange for funds, and the sale and 
collection of tickets; and Restaurant, if meals are to 
be served for the convenience of those who would at- 
tend the entire program of any one day. 


DRAMATIZATIONS 


The committee in charge of dramatization is, of 
course, a very important group. It need not be large, 
but it should be altogether competent. If circumstances 
warrant, it could have charge of various minor proj- 
ects as well as of the play given during the Grand 
Project. In general, however, it is enough for it to 
manage the play. It is well, in any case, to have it 
understood that the play is only one of many impor- 
tant aspects of the Project—the play must not be al- 
lowed to encroach upon other equally valuable features, 
especially if it be one that does not add considerably 
to the educational character of the Project. 

Suitable plays are scarce. The Drama Book Shop, 
29 West 47 Street, New York City, is a good supply 
house. Among the more elaborate plays may be men- 
tioned : 


“The Pearl of Dawn,” by H. Hupson. In Twenty Con- 
temporary Plays. Edited by Frank Shay. D. Appleton 
and Co., New York. Paper, $3.75. 


{ 


152 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


“Tents of the Arabs.” In Plays of Gods and Men. 
Epwarp Dunsany. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York. 
$1.75. 

“Kismet.” Epwarp Knozpiock. George H. Doran Co., 
New York. $1.00. 


Among the simpler plays are: 


“The Blue and Green Mat of Abdul Hassan.” ConsTANCE 
G. Witcox. (Appleton’s Short Plays, No. 5) D. 
Appleton and Co., New York. 50 cents. 


The following plays by Helen L. Willcox, published 
by the Missionary Education Movement, New York, 
should be ordered through denominational head- 
quarters. 


“Kasim.” A play of Persia. Price, 50 cents. 

“The Pilgrimage.” A play about Moslems. Out of print. 

“The Test.” A play in blank verse contrasting the Moslem 
faith with the Christian faith. Price, 25 cents. 


A simple dramatic sketch suitable for presentation 
by a group of eight or ten older boys is “In a Khan 
Doorway,” the text of which is available at a nominal 
price from the Literature Department, American Board, 
14 Beacon Street, Boston. 

These are all written by Western authors. It is 
almost impossible to procure Moslem plays. 

In the face of various difficulties a novel venture 
was made for the sake of a play for the Project as 
given in the Church of the Redeemer, of New Haven. 
Under the title Kerbala, adaptations were made from 
Pelly’s Miracle Play of Hasan and Hussein. This is 
a Moslem drama, in oriental phraseology. Five epi- 
sodes were chosen, which, with introduction and inter- 





THEECAST OF | KERBALA - 


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THE GRAND PROJECT 153 


ludes to unify the play, require one and one-quarter 
hours for presentation. There is no curtain, or scene 
shifting, but a continuous performance. Every at- 
tempt is made to reproduce the actual rendering as in 
Persia or India, even to the summoning of players 
from the audience. The play is, of course, intense re- 
ligious tragedy, and both players and audience must 
meet the situation with sustained earnestness. It is a 
unique play, very impressive and illuminating, and of 
unusual value for an understanding of Islam. 
Extracts from the Introduction and the Prelude are 
given here for the sake of indicating to the reader 
something further of the character of the play.’ 


Introduction. ‘The mullah speaks as follows from 
front stage: 


Ordinarily one does not realize that an idea of Atonement 
has any place within Islam. Indeed, it is not found among 
the Sunni Moslems, as a rule,—the Sunnis constitute the 
bulk of Islam,—but it is very prominent among the Shia 
Moslems of Persia and elsewhere, some twenty millions 
strong. 

“Kerbala” is a passion play of the Shias. Its theme is 
Atonement. In all its phases the play may most appropriately 
be compared with the Passion Play of Oberammergau. 


No play has surpassed this tragedy in its effect upon the 
witnesses. It is a singular drama in its curious mixture of 
hyperbole and archaic simplicity of language, and in its dis- 
regard of the so-called unities of time and space. Mohammed 
and his family are the central figures, whatever the scene. 

1 Mimeograph copies of “Kerbala” may be procured at cost (50 


cents) from Professor J. C. Archer, Yale Station, New Haven, 
Conn, 


154 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Hussein, the Prophet’s grandson, is the martyr through 
whose vicarious sufferings and death the Shias gain Para- 
dise—through whom, in fact, according to Shia thought, 
comes salvation to the whole world. 

There is a basis in history. Hussein’s death occurred 
October 9, A.D. 680 at Kerbala.... He was of the very 
blood of the Prophet, and, as later Persian tradition has it, 
Mohammed’s true successor by divine right. Islam was even 
then a world dominion, enough to excite the ambition of 
king or saint. 

The perfidious citizens of Kufa in Mesopotamia made 
overtures to Hussein, and he came from Medina with his 
small band, hoping for aid in the overthrow of the Damascus 
Caliphate. Instead, he met his death, and with him every 
man of his company, including his brothers and his sons. 
His head was severed from his body and carried upon a 
spear-point into Kufa. “A thrill of horror ran through the 
crowd when the gory head of the Prophet’s grandson was 
cast at the governor’s feet. Hard hearts were melted. As 
the governor roughly turned over the head with his staff, an 
aged voice was heard to cry: ‘Gently! It is the Prophet’s 
grandson. By Allah, I have seen those very lips kissed by 
the blessed mouth of Mohammed.’ ” 


Drums beat off stage, while the mullah lights the candles 
on the tazia. (An innovation for dramatic effect.) 


Prelude. The mullah then speaks from the pulpit, 
with more intense feeling: 


O ye faithful, give ear! And open your hearts to the 
wrongs and sufferings of his Highness the Imam Ali, the 
vicegerent of the Prophet—may God bless him and give 
him peace!—and let your eyes flow with tears as a river 
for the woes that befell their Highnesses the Imams Hasan 
and Hussein, the foremost of the bright youths of Paradise. 


THE GRAND PROJECT 155 


The Mullah wails as drums beat, “Ya Ali! At Hasan, 
Ai Hussein! Ai Hasan, At Hussein! Hussein Shah!” 


Attend now, ye celebrants. Ye are here to fill our minds 
with memories, saddest memories, as Allah wills; but do 
thou come, each of you in his turn, to tell the tale that tests 
our very souls. Come, Abu’l Kasim (pause, while Abw'l 
Kasim comes to the foot of steps leading to the stage), thou 
art the blessed Prophet today; and Rukaiyya (Rukaiyya 
comes to the steps)—though it be unheard of for women to 
take part—do thou play the role of Fatima. Let others play 
their own accustomed parts. 

The day of tragedy has dawned, and first of all arrives 
the Prophet’s storm-tossed ship at anchor in a safe harbor. 
Here, Abu’l Kasim (mullah mounts stage and takes from 
the “tazia” the symbol indicated), is thy symbol. Rukaiyya, 
here is thine (mullah indicates her symbol). 


The mullah seats himself upon the pulpit, and the 
play begins. (See illustration, page 152.) 


STORIES 


For use at various times during the program and 
especially during the children’s hour of the Grand 
Project the following books may be consulted for 
story materials: 


Khoja, The. Tales of Nasr-ed-Din. Tr. by H. D. Barnham. 
D. Appleton and Co., New York. 1924. $2.50. 
This is a collection of humor in the name of Nasr-ed-Din, 
the famous wit of Islam. 

Fez and Turban Tales. Isabel M. Blake. Missionary Edu- 
cation Movement, New York. 1920. 75 cents. 


156 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Tales of the Arabs. Mrs. M. E. Hume Griffith. Religious 
Tract Society, London. I915. 2s. 6d. 

Two Arabian Knights. Mrs. M. E. Hume Griffith. Church 
Missionary Society, London. 2s. 6d. 

Folk-lore from Foreign Lands. Catherine Bryce. Newson 
and Co., New York. 1913. 76 cents. 

Musa, Son of Egypt. Mary Entwistle and Jeanette Perkins. 
Friendship Press, New York. 1926. Cloth, 75 cents; 
paper, 50 cents. 

Tales from Moslem Lands. William W. Reid. Friendship 
Press, New York. 1926. Forty cents. 


The leader may also make adaptations from The 
Arabian Nights (Everyman Edition). See also Lane, 
Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, pages 


397-431. 


THe Pupric REcITER 


In connection with the program of the Grand Proj- 
ect a sha’er or “reciter,” * may appear to good advan- 
tage, and add much to the occasion. He might be sta- 
tioned at the coffee-shop. His chief service, however, 
would be at the opening program each day. At the 
Church of the Redeemer he used the following read- 
ing daily in announcing the setting and the events: 


This is a word to the guests, our friends—Ehlen wa 
sehlen! We welcome you! Allah disposes and you are 
here. May joy and satisfaction attend your presence. Peace 
be unto you! As-salam alaykum! 

This is the House of Islam which you have entered. Be- 


8 Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, pp. 
397-400. 


THE GRAND PROJECT 157 


hold its walls, its shops, its shrines (pointing to various 
parts). The odors of Araby are all about you. This (indi- 
cating im each instance the building named) is the masjid 
an-nabt, the mosque of the Prophet—may God bless him and 
give him peace !—and yonder the mosque of the traveler, the 
masjid al-jawwab. There is the shop of Saleh, the son of 
Safwan, where sweets may be had—rahat, halwa, baklawa— 
toothsome morsels of finest Eastern flavor. There is the 
coffee-house of Abdullah, son of Zaid, the beit al-kal, or 
house of gossip, where all the rumors of the day fly from 
lip to lip. Over it the legend, “Who drinks of this coffee 
will drink again!” There sip coffee and pass the water- 
pipe. It is always tomorrow at the beit al-kal. 

Here on my right is the residence of Sheikh Hasan, who 
is governor of the mosque of the Prophet, a hospitable man 
whose doors are open to all. Enter and view the fine col- 
lection of articles (Note: the exhibits are in this house) 
which the good Sheikh has on exhibit—things of the house, 
the shop, and the field. You are welcome. 

Over there are the women’s quarters. Enter and rest, 
when you will. Fair slaves will do your bidding. Rest and 
read, or scan the pictures in the books which lie at hand. 

Yonder on my right is the children’s room, with work of 
their own hands, and children themselves in attendance to 
tell of what their hands have wrought. It will please you, 
in sha'llah (if God wills) ! 

Be at home here, all of you. This House is yours. All 
who attend you mean to make your visit pleasant and 
profitable. We are all here to learn in the spirit of friendly | 
comradeship. This is the Moslem World in representation, 
which we hold to be a proper field for the gospel of Christ, 
that the followers of the Prophet may find reason and oppor- 
tunity through our aid for progress toward the Final Faith. 
Look to your lists, we pray you, for the items and the times 
of their appearing, by which we would challenge your atten- 
tion to Moslem affairs. 


158 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


Man talaba wajada!—He who seeks, finds! Be not to 
church an outcast, nor to mosque a foe. Seek God and find 
him where his spirit is. 


ProyeEcr PRoGRAM AND SCHEDULE 


For the printed program a drawing in India ink 
may be made and reduced to a cut. The full-size 
drawing might be used for posters and window cards. 
See page 142 for an appropriate design. The printed 
program used at New Haven included the following 
statement : 


“Arab Village’ is the closing phase of several months’ 
study of the Near East and the Moslem World carried on 
in this parish. The program has included the reading of 
books, discussions in classes of the Church School, public 
lectures, and projects of many kinds undertaken by various 
groups of the Church, the School, and the Week-day Church 
School. “Arab Village” is, therefore, a partial exhibition of 
the fruits of this period of study. The chief desire through- 
out has been the careful interpretation of the religion of 
Islam. 

The activities of these three days issue from the educa- 
tional motive of the whole venture. We welcome our guests 
in the interest of international understanding and good-will, 
and not in the interest of entertainment or finance. 


As here presented “Arab Village” includes: 

1. A physical setting of mosques, houses, a shop, and a 
café 

2. An exhibit of museum materials 

3. An exhibit of handwork done by the Primary Depart- 
ment of the Church School 


THE GRAND PROJECT 159 


4. Dramatic representations of village education, harem 
life, games, and public worship 

5. Stories, lectures, and music 

6. “Kerbala,” the Shia Moslem Miracle Play of Hasan 
and Hussein 


The daily time schedule used in the New Haven 
Project was as follows: 


4:00 FoRMAL OPENING. PUBLIC RECITER. MOSLEM MAGIC 
AND INCANTATION. 


4:30 THE ARAB VILLAGE SCHOOL. HAREM SCENE. 


5:00 NEAR EASTERN GAMES. EXHIBIT BY PRIMARY DE- 
PARTMENT. 


5:30 Story Hour. Exursits. CorFFee. 


6:00 TO 7:00 INTERMISSION FOR REFRESHMENTS. Ex- 
HIBITS. Music. PICTURES. 


7:00 WEDDING Procession AND MonoLocur. Epbuca- 
TION OF WOMEN. 


7:30 MosteEM WorSHIP IN THE Mosque. Music By 
CHOIR. 


8:00 “KERBALA” (A DRAMATIZATION FOR ADULTS ONLY). 
CHILDREN’S Hour (CONDUCTED SIMULTANEOUSLY, 
IN JUNIOR ROOM). 


g:15 LEcTuRE. 


This schedule and the features listed are subject to change. 
The Project is informal (chairs are provided for the play). 
The program is not continuous. Intervals occur for the in- 


160 MISSIONARY EDUCATION 


spection of exhibits, visiting the café and the shop, and for 
social intercourse. The rest-room is furnished with couches, 
books, and pictures. Refreshments are served at moderate 
cost for the convenience of our guests. 


This makes a very full schedule—too full, in fact, 
for ordinary occasions. More time, for example, 
should be allowed for exhibits (see pages 147-148). 
One means of relieving the pressure is by the omission 
of one or more events each day. In general, in the 
average parish the Grand Project would be just as 
effective with fewer features. For the first year one 
or two days instead of three might serve the immediate 
purpose. 





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